Intervals and Puppies

Intervals day two! It was much harder this time, since I've been running all week. I had to slow way down to recover, but only for thirty seconds or so. Henri kept looking back at me, wondering why I was moving so slow. He hadn't forgotten what the beeping meant! He was ready! His internal clock might be better than the watch. I swear he knew when my two minute recovery was coming to an end.

Today we were attacked by two Golden Retrievers. Not really attacked. Some people might have freaked out when two dogs came charging and barking at them. I might be naive, but I just love dogs too much to be afraid of them. I knew these dogs lived there. I'd seen them a few times when we had been running in the evenings last fall, I had just stopped looking for them in the early mornings. One was a puppy and never tied up. The older one was tied up. I'm not sure what the logic is of that one. At this point, I couldn't tell which one was the puppy, other than it would be the one not tied up. 

I saw them first, hanging out at their back door like they were waiting for someone to come out with them. Henri saw them, but kept moving. Then one of them spotted us. He ran across the yard, barking. We slowed down to a stop. I didn't want a bad situation to occur and while I'd love another furry running partner, this was not the way I wanted to go about getting it. The older one had run up, pulling his rope as far as it would go, which was to the sidewalk. He immediately went into a submissive stance and he and Henri just sniffed each other. I was surprised since it was his territory we were running through. The younger one realized something was going on and came running and barking as well, except he was, of course, not tied up.

They all stood, sniffing each other. Henri didn't seem nervous or ganged up on, even when the younger could get closer than the older. He was cool, calm and confident. The owner came out after a few more seconds and called them to him, so Henri and I continued on our way. Henri didn't even look back.

Why couldn't he be like that with the rabbits we encounter?