Observe Exhibit A:

He’s cute, no?

I bring this up for a reason…you see, the adorable fluffball above who I lovingly refer to as Harley has got me thinking about some of the differences between walking around my new ‘hometown’ of Pasadena vs. a stroll through Aurora. Though not an attempt to generalize the difference between Americans and Canadians or Californians and Ontarians…I’m left intrigued.

You see, a while back I contemplated posting my thoughts on the difference between walking down the street with earbuds stuffed in my head or a bouncy little six pounder trotting along on the end of a leash. In scenario one, I’m pretty much asking to be left alone - don’t talk to me, I’m busy, I’m not even here…But with Harley it always surprised me how much easier it was for people to even say "Hi". The exchange would typically follow this pattern:

Dog does something cute (okay, really he doesn’t have to do anything…so we could just say ‘Dog is cute’)
Person notices
Smile forms as they look at dog
Eyes travel up the leash to meet mine
I smile
We both exchange Hellos

It’s friendly, it makes the walk fun and you get to know some names and faces of people around your neighborhood this way.

How is it so different here, you ask?

Well, for starters when we go for a walk, there’s typically at least twice as many people walking past. It’s busier on the whole, so I’d venture to guess that people are often busier, headed someplace, don’t have time to chat.

Wait, I should clarify that…they don’t have time to chat with me.

Now, I’m not taking this personally…I’m qualifying myself as being that person on the end of the leash. While before I got they routine questions ("What kind is he…she?", "Can I pet your dog?", "Is he a puppy?", "Will he get any bigger?") now people are talking to the dog and are perfectly content to pretend that Harley is walking down the street by himself for everyone to coddle and coo over. They stop, lean down, pet his little furry head, tell him how cute he is, and then continue on their way. I don’t need to be there, to them I’m not there, it’s all about the furball.

I’m gonna have to find a way to meet people instead of relying on my dog. He’s hogging all the attention.

he