Don't Know, Don't Care

During our morning walk, big Akita guy and I noticed a tiny brown Chihuahua scurry across the street and disappear down a driveway. We peeked, couldn't see the little guy, hoped he found his way home, and moved on. Nearly an hour later, we noticed him again. Instead of looking like he was home, he looked cold and unhappy, so chancing upon another dog-walking neighbor who lived across the street from the escapee in question, I asked if she knew where he belonged. No luck. Hoping to lure the little guy toward me, I tied the scary big dog to a nearby fence and set about trying to dog whisper - which, in spite of my avid love for all things scaled, feathered and furred - I'm not very successful with. Little guy scurried around a hedge into the adjacent driveway. Just as I'm about to follow, a woman comes out of her house. Relieved, I ask, "Oh, is that your little tan Chihuahua?" and her response completely floored me. "Don't know, don't care. This is my property and I don't like people on it." Yes, I was trespassing by being two feet down her driveway. OK, I was just hoping to help the little dog.... Again the response, "Don't know, don't care." Well thanks, you're a lovely person.

Turns out, she admits she does know the dog and knows the dog lives next door. Great, sez I, and proceed to knock on the door. No answer. I leave. The whole time she berating me for being nosy and I couldn't understand what else her tirade was about. So in the interests of thought experiments, here's mine:

It's Christmas eve, and everyone else I met on the walk was cheerful and wished us well. Maybe her Christmas is going poorly and she was feeling super cranky.

She sees me everyday walking my dog past her house and her two dogs who like to hang out in the window and bark at us. I always say hello to the dogs to acknowledge them and she's decided we make her feel guilty she never walks her dogs further than her front yard to do their business.

Maybe she is having issues with her neighbor and the dog and decided to take it out on me. 

Maybe she's just batshit crazy. Merry Christmas and ho ho ho.