Any Dog Who’s Anybody Cruises High Drive Trail

The bike path and trail alongside the 1.3 miles of High Drive between 29th Avenue and Manito Boulevard just might be Spokane’s No. 1 outdoor see-and-be-seen destination.

For dogs, that is. That curving stretch of road is the epicenter of the local canine singles scene.

There are some bright-eyed, well-groomed pooches and a few barkers. But all seem to have a pretty good time.

Because so many joggers, bike riders and walkers bring their pets when they go to High Drive, there is a whole lot of sniffing going on. At least there was Sunday at midday.

Beagles sniffed spaniels. Retrievers sniffed labs. And this one low-to-the-ground happy-faced mixed breed dog sniffed everyone in sight.

Some of the humans communicated with one another, too. But it’s really the dogs’ trail. You can tell that from the countless droppings.

It’s a little-discussed quirk of the Spokane real estate market that people who live along High Drive in some of the area’s more expensive houses run the risk of seeing a dog doing its business whenever they look out their front windows.

The cigarette butts are the contribution of two-leggers. Few dogs smoke.

Most people had their animals on leashes Sunday. But a few relied on voice commands.

One young woman jogging in a T-shirt and shorts kept up a steady stream of calls to her pet. It sounded as if she was saying “Tote,” you know, as in “Toto.”

“C’mon, Tote … Here, Tote … Catch up, Tote … Stay with me, Tote.”

When Tote emerged from the weeds beside the trail, prompting a flurry of grasshopper activity, it was possible to see how someone could have named the dog “Toto.”

But as for responding to the jogger’s calls, well, that was sort of an afterthought. Tote’s demeanor said, “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming already.”

In addition to the trail dogs, there are some bowsers that get walked on the neighborhood drive running along in front of the homes on High Drive. Watching one of those dogs making visual contact with a trail dog and barking, it was impossible to avoid imagining some sort of furry “Romeo & Juliet” story line.

Or maybe a canine version of TV’s “Cheers” would be more like it.

You know, the purebred from the high-rent district wants to join his working-class pals at their favorite hang-out. But his family won’t permit it.

The peak trail-use season has probably passed. But there’s still a lot of nice walking weather left on the calendar.

And a lot of sniffing.

, DataTimes