Dixie's growing a bit

DIXIE AND I ARE DEVELOPING A RAPPORT.

I HAVE GAINED a lot of respect for Dixie the last couple of days. I had thought that Dixie was just afraid when she snarled at other dogs when they came into "her" territory.

And maybe she was. But there was something else.

Yesterday at the dog park, a black dog, probably around 40 pounds, jumped up on me and tried to get petted. Suddenly, Dixie charged out from under the bench and snarled at the offender. As it trotted off, I realized that Dixie wasn't afraid.

She was trying to defend me.

Today, she did it again as a big German shepherd tried to play with her. Again, she didn't appear afraid; she was just chased him out of "her" territory.

Fortunately, the big dog's owner wasn't offended; she realized that Dixie was just defending me ... and perhaps herself.

I noticed that Dixie actually left my side for awhile today, even with the offending German shepherd there. That's a good sign. She's developing a little confidence.

NOTE: There appeared to be two small dogs alone on the small-dog side today. Finally, a woman on a cell phone came out from under a tree into the light.

• Woof! (translation: Go away, kid; you bother me)

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• ... said the spider to ...

, • The Dog Diary (2015)

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Good Samaritan

• The PRESS cap and my friend Mike

• Watching TV

• No luck with Billy Sims

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing