“Bo! Hey!” I yell, moving quickly to where my Golden Retriever is trying weasel himself underneath the gate that separates my yard from yours. I pull him back and give you an apologetic smile from where I’m standing. “Sorry about that. Our dogs seem quite taken with each other,” I say with a light laugh.

We’ve been neighbors for only about a month now after you moved into the home next door to mine with your dog. Over the course of the weeks, there’s been multiple occasions of both of our pets doing anything and everything to play with each other.

Jumping over the fence, digging under the fence, yanking free from our grasp if we pass each other on a walk, and so on.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were almost trying to get us to even be friends.

We’ve had some small talk here and there, usually after one of our dogs has broke free again. It’s definitely not unwelcome, especially since being in the middle of a pandemic has significantly decreased everyone’s social interaction with each other.

Maybe we should actually let our dogs push us into a friendship.