Mrs. W., me, two other walkers, and a jogger. I’m glad about it. It makes this feel like, somehow, a rural neighborhood. Like we all live out in the kind of country, but we can get to know each other on sight.
Plus, I like knowing that, if I’m hit by a car or something, someone might stumble across me.
But it also makes me feel like I live in a neighborhood full of badasses. I notice that a lot of the people I would guess to be in their late 50s, early 60s and older walk with huge walking sticks. At first, I thought this was just some weird cultural thing, like everyone in Whites Creek was practicing in case they were called on to become a wizard or something. But I’ve also seen guys walking with a golf club, so it dawned on me that it’s a stray dog/coyote whooping stick.
Smart. Not that I’ve run into many strays, but people do have a tendency to dump animals out here.
So, yes, people, you should know, before you dump your animal out in the “country” thinking one of us will pick it up and care for it, that its likely life is to either get hit by a car, eaten by coyotes, or have its head bashed in by my bad-ass neighbors. If you do not want the end of your dog’s life to be it alone, frightened, and in tremendous pain, don’t be dumping it off up here.
Whew, that ended on a depressing note.
Tiny Cat Pants 
Had to make an early morning airport run, so I got to see my neighborhood at an hour I don’t usually see. I saw a few over-50 couples walking. I also saw a big walking stick. Don’t underestimate how much cooler a big stick looks than a cane, especially if one doesn’t quite yet need it all the time but enjoys the reassurance it provides on a long walk.
Unfortunately I don’t think most people who dump their animals really care that much what happens to them.
I drive through Whites Creek every morning on my way to the office and I see the stick walkers all the time. There’s one pair of walkers in particular that insist on walking side-by-side which means one of them is always on the road. I give them plenty of room because they have a stick and a crazy look in their eyes. I still haven’t figure out what the “butt pack” is for … must be a long walk.
In my old neighborhood in Antioch people carried sticks so they could keep the skunks at a distance. Urban skunks are mean and very protective of their dumpsters.
Also, far too many people let their pet dogs run free and chase/threaten walkers.
It’s not just rural areas either, just yesterday morning someone let their dog out and it was running around on Gallatin Rd in Madison. It tried to hump the female (blind) guide dog of a person until some other folks helped run it off.
I’d cheerfully kill people who dump their animals. I now have 6 cats, & love them very much, but I started with one. Guess where the rest came from?