My Guard Dog

As I have mentioned before, American Samoa is blessed with numerous wild dogs. Some of these dogs have been "domesticated" in the sense someone put a collar on the dog and sometimes the dog is given scraps of food by the palagis in the neighborhood. They also do not look as sick as the others - not as many tumors or cuts.

Relatively good looking Samoan dogs.

My neighbors who are Samoan have a dog. It appears to be in decent shape. In addition to guarding my neighbors yard, it also patrols my home. Sadly, the dog tried to protect the house from me as well, barking at me and running towards me as I hustled into my house from my car. However, we finally bonded. I have started to run again - in my attempt to get back into marathon running shape - it is an uphill battle, perhaps I should be satisfied with two marathons under my belt. oh well. It is actually not too hot - sort of like DC summer running - but with a breeze. I normally wait until just before dusk. Okay, back to the main story. I mapped out a route that takes me around the bend of my road to the cul-du-sac. The cul-du-sac is guarded by some really mean dogs - like five of them. I did not know this before I entered the cul-du-sac and they started to come after me. Luckily, they are skiddish, and a quick lunge at them normally gets them to back off. I made it back to my house, and the neighbor's dog came out to greet me. He came over and sniffed me and determined that I was okay. I believe that I passed some sort of right of passage by facing the dogs on the other side. I later fed him some extra ham I had. Best Friends Forever.