The Nelson Family Indonesia

This morning Gena and I went on a morning walk. We’re trying to push ourselves to be out and about more often, even though the heat and humidity in Medan is constantly oppressive and makes any outdoor foray an immediate opportunity for sweating profusely. But our dog benefits from the walks as well and she’s a good incentive and yahda yahda yahda. We went out this morning.

We took a longer route Gena was introduced to by a mutual friend last week. It was a bright and clear morning, which means there’s nothing to interfere with the heat of the sunlight. Still, at 8am it was 2-3 degrees cooler than it might be later in the day and it was for a good cause. I purchased a long pair of tongs to pick up trash as we walk, something there’s a never-ending supply of in Medan. I like the idea of making at least small efforts to beautify the city by ridding it of some small amount of trash. I get a lot of strange looks as I do this, but you never know who else might be inspired to act similarly and extend the impact of my modest cleaning campaign.

Kahlua (our dog) is fortunately a very mild-mannered dog and while she enjoys her outings she doesn’t yank at her leash like every other dog we’ve ever had. And fortunately the steady car and motorcycle/moped traffic doesn’t disturb her too much. We wound our way through our familiar neighborhood streets, across a larger street, and down another smaller set of streets I wasn’t familiar with.

We turned onto a long stretch of road with houses on one side and walls on the other. Suddenly the noise of Medan traffic disappeared. Were it not for the buildings we might imagine we were in a kampung (village) in the country. We chatted as we ambled down the broken asphalt of this less-traveled road.

But the revereie was disturbed when we noticed two dogs emerge from one of the residences where the gate was wide open. They weren’t massive, but they were in the 20-25 pound range, about the size of an Australian Shepherd, and the ubiquitous brindle color of many dogs in Medan of indistinct heritage. They didn’t bark but were clearly intent on investigating us.

Quickly they split apart and started circling us, most keenly interested in Kahlua. One of them was snarling and making aggressive noises while the other was mostly silent but difficult to read. I had Gena keep walking and keeping Kahlua on a tight leash. Kahlua’s life has been pretty sheltered and while she was obviously aware of and curious about these dogs, she wasn’t instinctively afraid of them. Last night she had spent several minutes laying in front of a damaged or sick dragonfly that somehow made it’s way into our house. She was fascinated by it and a few tentative pawings probably didn’t improve it’s health any even though she meant no harm.

Eventually she ate it, perhaps sensing it wasn’t going to be flying off ever again.

As Gena and Khalua kept walking I placed myself to the rear and side. I had the long tongs I was picking up trash with and I spoke sternly to the dogs as I kept this brandished in front of me and between them and Gena & Kahlua. It was clear they were somebody’s dogs rather than two of the feral street dogs known to roam the city. This was definitely an encouraging sign but their intentions were very unclear and an aggressive caution seemed the wisest posture on my part.

Several times they darted in for a closer look but the swinging of the tongs sent them back again. The larger of the two made a move and I smacked him lightly but firmly on the snout, something that seemed to surprise him and encouraged him to back off. A few meters beyond their gate they finally stopped and watched us as we continued on our way. No damage done, but definitely a lot of food for thought.

Gena has walked Kahlua alone a few times just in our immediate neighborhood. There are plenty of dogs (a security option popular with those who can afford them) in the area but they’re always behind gates. This was a good and timely reminder that not all dogs are kept gated or restrained, especially once we leave the relatively genteel streets that make up our neighborhood. We agreed that walks with the dog alone should be avoided if at all possible, and carrying the tongs or some other means of discouraging dogs from getting too close is mandatory.

We’re grateful the encounter was nothing more than a bit nerve-wracking. Better to have that sort of encounter in order to remind us of much worse potential dangers in the future!