The Social Event of the Day

Every day of the week (well, six days a week, anyway!) our Pointer enjoys the time of his life. It happens like clockwork every Monday through Saturday, around 3:00 p.m. No, it isn’t going to the dog park for a 30-minute run, although he really enjoys that too. Instead, this wonderful daily event involves joining me for a simple, sedate walk down the street to pick up the mail.

Our mail isn’t delivered to our house. Instead, it’s put into a little mailbox (it resembles a post office box) in a small building about eight blocks away. Our “mail lady” stands inside this building and from there she stuffs everyone’s mail into their individual boxes.

Well, our dog has decided that our walk for the mail is actually the social event of each day. He brings me the leash around 3:00 every day (Sundays are always a big disappointment) and off we go. Not only does my Pointer know the route to the mail building, he knows which houses along the way have dogs. He even knows some of their names. As we walk by, some of these dogs come out for a quick visit.

The only time he wavers from watching these houses for his canine pals is when he stops to look down one of the side streets. We cross several along the way, but he knows that particular side street is where his favorite buddy lives. His friend’s name is “Sugar Ray” (what a great name for a Boxer), and my dog always looks for him. Pointers are a joy to walk with because they’re not territorial or aggressive. In fact, they’re very friendly and social, and they enjoy interacting with other dogs.

I think we’re going for the mail, but my Pointer thinks this walk is actually a big social event. He even pops his head inside the little mail building to say “hi” to the mail lady.