Our sweet chocolate lab, Beau, is getting older. As such, he is getting a mind of his own, not caring quite so much about what folks think of him, like some older human adults do sometimes.

So he has taken to pooping wherever he pleases, and he pleases to poop mostly inside the house. Where we live, he can run freely throughout our fenced property, but he has changed his ways, and instead of roaming and doing his business in our yard, he sits on the porch until we let him inside, and then he decides to poop in our family room. So I decided I need to help him reset his poop-clock, so to speak, and walk him by leash around the property every morning to encourage some action before coming back into the house.

This was one such morning, and I was wandering around the property with Beau on his leash, when all of a sudden I heard my neighbor's voice: "A leash?!?!?".

My explanation: "I'm trying to get Beau back on a schedule, so that he poops outside and doesn't wait until later to poop in the house". Then I looked up at her, and noticed she was standing in her yard holding a gun. Not sure what kind... a rifle? shotgun? pellet gun? Who knows.

So she volunteers, without my asking, in the way of explanation: "I'm trying to get this squirrel. He keeps getting in my garden!"

"Oh. I see...."

Only in the country can a dog leash be considered a curiosity by one's neighbor, especially one standing in her yard holding a gun.