Anyone who saw “>I Am Legend,” the top box office draw this past weekend, knows a beloved dog plays a pivotal role. Ironically, she is the humanizing glue in a story about humanity hanging on by a thread. Writers of these post-apocalyptic stories often offer dogs as a small sign of hope – think “Terminator” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” Perhaps it’s because they live in neighborhoods, as I do, where neighbors might not know each other’s names but they know the names of each other’s dogs, as we discovered at last summer’s neighborhood block party.
One thing that makes my West End neighborhood particularly dog and people friendly is that it’s walkable thanks to sidewalks. Even on the coldest days our dogs draw us out of our houses. They glue us together in ways we might not be aware of – I silently mourned the loss of a neighbor’s lab after the dog was noticeably absent from her daily walks. They may even make you do something you’d never do otherwise. As I struggled to carry my injured 40 pound mutt up Nelson one summer afternoon a woman passing offered me a ride home. We knew without the dog in the mix neither of us would ever have offered or accepted a ride to/from a stranger.
In a world that sometimes feels on the verge of apocalypse I’m grateful our neighborhood has gone to the dogs – MacGregor, Porky, Maisy, Molly, Peanut, Mocha, Java, and Trixie to name a few.
Share your favorite Rockville dog walking routes, groomers, boarding and shelter services here, in the comments section of this post.
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We’ve used the dog walking/pit stop services of The Pet Stop for a couple years now and have been very happy with Theresia and her staff. She is located in north eastern Gaithersburg but services most of Montgomery County. She also offers an excellent doggy bed and breakfast for when we go out of town. Gizmo and Gadget love to visit her during these times because she has other dogs they can play with, she lets them sleep with her and she has a wonderful fenced in area out front (small dogs) and back (bigger dogs). It’s a much better environment then a kennel.>
Theresia’s information is located on her web site here: http://www.thepet-stop.com/.