Dingoes

After more than a month without seeing a dingo, I have seen two in the last three days, both at close quarters.

The first one I ran into (almost literally) on a long evening run late last week. As I approached on the dirt road, it stood on the shoulder and didn’t budge while I jogged past within a few feet. Then I glanced back and noticed it loping quietly along behind me, keeping pace. Suddenly I didn’t like this encounter so much; though dingos aren’t really a threat, to have one stalking me at sunset, several miles from the station, started to sketch me out. “I’m running away from it!” I thought. So I stopped running, turned around, and faced down the dog, which paused just a few feet away. After a sort of tense stare-off, it seemed to lose interest and quietly stepped into the grass.

On Saturday I saw another one by the Adcock crossing, though it was more properly wary and ran away on sight. Pretty much, they’re your standard, run-of-the-mill dogs, except they’re roaming around the Australian desert. Gives you a start to realize it’s not just someone’s pet. They seem to be active all day, which surprises me since it gets so hot (well over 100 F today, as usual). Imagine having all that fur!