Saturday morning in the dog park. Boris the Dog-faced Boy espies Hudson, the next-door Welsh terrier. Boris leaps upon his friend and knocks him around, as is his way. Seemingly every other dog in the park converges on the squirmy little terrier.

I greet our neighbors and make sure they don't mind my dog tossing theirs around. I then notice a woman questioning their judgement in allowing their small dog to be so molested by this pack of large, aggressive beasts. "Hon, it's all right," they keep saying, but she won't shut up.

Turns out that when they first entered the park she was all set to lecture them for keeping their dog from playing with others -- they had entered the park into a deserted portion. They pointed out that this part of the park was connected with all the rest, so eventually their dog would encounter playmates and her concerns were moot. So she was apparently determined to be their boss no matter what.

We withdrew slightly from her immediate presence, letting Boris and Hudson get their wrassle on. However, she just couldn't let it go. Seeing as her bitching wouldn't stop, one of my neighbors strode toward her, loudly calling out, "Hon, do you know anything about this breed?" He came back afer having partly mollified her, reporting that she had claimed that "the big black dog is being so mean to your little dog." "Hon," was the reply, "that big black dog is my neighbor." And the big black dog would be Boris, if you're following all this.

So the moral is: don't be a busybody at the dog park. And don't slander my big black dog.