After moving to Berkeley Mr. Claus got a rescue dog named Peanut. They had explained that she was a cross between a pit bull and a poodle. He looked it up later and found out they were called Pit Boodles. He could see both dogs in the mix even that she had white fur that was more poodle than pit bull.
He doted on Peanut and wanted to make sure she felt like a princess. And after two weeks she was sleeping in his bed, eating his leftovers and they were inseparable.
During one of their walks they discovered a group of dog owners at the local park that let their dogs off their leashes to play in a big group. They walked by the first day as he wasn’t sure he wanted Peanut to mix with other dogs.
The next day on the way past the park Mr. Claus changed his mind and decided it would do her some good to be in the company of dogs.
He approached the group and let Peanut off of her leash. The dogs in the group welcomed her by chasing her around the perimeter of the park. Mr. Claus kept his distance from the other dog owners but nodded to them as a thanks for welcoming Peanut to the group.
He took out his phone and snapped a picture of Peanut as if it were her first day at school.
He was glad to see that the owners were active in keeping alpha dominance down to a minimum. Peanut got along with the other dogs from the start and they played well together even when she got a little rough. There was one exception— Jolene. She was a young, black labradoodle and didn’t bow down to any dog— be it designer or pure bred.
Jolene’s human mom was dressed in black including gloves and big boots. He assumed from the dog’s name that is was some kind of reverence to country music but the mom looked more rock than country. If the name were a reference thing it would have been easier with a male dog named Sue. With the black clothes it would be a no-brainer. Mr. Claus just put it down to Berkeley being Berkeley and let it go.
He snapped another picture of Peanut together with a couple of other dogs, including Jolene, and posted it to his Twitter account that he finally took control over again after J.J. had locked him out for several months:
Peanut Rocks @MrClaus24or25
Rocking the dog park with Peanut and her friends.
Jolene’s mom came up to him waving her phone in her hand.
“You know I don’t appreciate your broadcasting pictures of my dog and this park like it is some kind of event,” she said.
“I’m sorry but I don’t remember asking your opinion,” said Mr. Claus.
“This is supposed to be a refuge from whatever else we have going on and is not meant to end up with a hashtag,” she said.
“Well it’s my dog and my life and I have lots of followers even if you aren’t one,” said Mr. Claus.
“I would at least appreciate it if you leave Jolene and me out of this,” she said.
“I would be happy to. That Jolene is a stuck-up, prissy bee-itch just like her mom,” said Mr. Claus.
She laughed.
“You think that’s funny?”
“Yeah I do coming from you. I can see where Peanut gets her greatly inflated sense of self worth,” she said.
“You have no idea of who I am do you?” asked Mr. Claus.
“No, I don’t keep up with tech and finance and all of that. And you have no idea of who you are dealing with,” she said.
“No just another Berkeley hippie dressed in black,” he said.
She nodded her head at him, leashed up her dog and walked out of the park.
Mr. Claus shook his head and laughed to himself.
