The Man

Ever since Tana was a puppy ( 11 yrs ago) there has been a man in our neighborhood that puts her on high alert. She doesn't bark at him, she just watches him very closely. He walks with a back pack, a wide brimmed hat and a bit of a slouch. As soon as she spots him, she circles back around and gets behind him on her walk. She keeps a very close eye on him until he reaches a certain boundary. We have no idea why she does this, but her sense tells her that he needs an escort out of her territory. She has spotted him outside of the immediate neighborhood, once in downtown he was on the opposite side of the 101. She stopped and made sure he was far away before she would budge from her post. 

Over the years we have wondered what causes her to be so suspicious of this man. Maybe it is the contents of his backpack? Something about his smell? She doesn't pay attention to other people who have on hats or backpacks or walk with a slouch- unless all three are present like this morning. We were walking along and all of the sudden she stopped dead in her tracks and had missile vision locked on to something. I looked across the street and sure enough a fellow was walking along with a backpack, a slouch and a hat. I tried to explain to her that it wasn't who she thought it was but have you ever tried to reason with a dog on a mission? We had to cross the street and she had to get within sniffing distance. She put her nose in the air and did some sniffing and then stopped, looked at me and headed back where we were going. It wasn't The Man.