Triple welcomes today

Donner had a busy day today greeting new friends and, as usual, staying om high alert for dogs to do whatever he hopes to do with or to them.

 

Today's welcome goes out first to the three two girls and their mother (or older sister?) who greeted us outside Starbucks.  I felt guilty telling them Donner's story because they all looked so concerned about his first four years of life chained in several LA back yards.  No need to show concern, I told them, because I kept his original name ("Thunder") hidden from him (Donner is thunder in German) to serve as a constant reminder to me that as a rescued dog, I need to be more patient and understanding with him, and I am. All three of these compassionate dog-lovers were awarded conveted OnTheRoad.camp patches.

 

Soon after we got on our way, we were approached (almost assaulted 😊) by Eileen, who diverted herself from her obviously tough run through the park to ask to pet Donner. I graciously obliged, and Donner welcomed the respite from our walk to search guardedly for dogs in a 180-degree arc.  Eileen was also award a converted OnTheRoad.camp patch for her exuberance.

 

Finally, just after Eileen got on her way, I spotted four young teenagers ahead of us, one of them clearly showing the tell-tale signs of yearning to pet Donner.  I was right.  As we approached them, the one unable to conceal her yearning came up to me (almost blocking my passage) and asked to pet Donner.  Again, I gladly obliged. I had run out of OnTheRoad.camp patches, so I asked them to send me their contact information (edmulrenin@gmail.com) and I would haply send each one.  (As I usually do to such an exuberant group, I asked each of them their birthdays and one of them shared my birthday.)

 

I cannot end this posting without mentioning that Ava, the Shirley Temple look-alike from yesterday, happened to stop by again today with her mother and brother and got in another pet of Donner. I'd like to think she persuaded her mom to return just for that, but I think the truth is that Starbucks's was the real draw.  Regardless, Ava got in another pet of Donner and Donner got still another pet to reinforce in him that there really are compassionate people in this world.