The name on the stubby-tailed dog’s tag is Dagwood. Dagwood is shy of the fluffier, one blue-eyed / one brown-eyed friend who’s been racing up and down the sidewalk, stopping short each time he reaches the curb. Dagwood hangs close to his owner, who is chatting with friends and intently rolling a cigarette. She looks at the dog nosing around her knee and holds the tobacco package open for him to sniff.
The other dog, the excited one, roams around bringing twigs back to his owner to play fetch with. The owner throws a twig and the dog catches it in mid air and eats it.
Dagwood’s left lip is curled out in a bulge, his mouth just kind of stuck that way after a yawn. He’s not bothered by this. It looks like he has a fat lip or like he’s sucking on a wad of chewing tobacco. One of the owner’s friends mimics the dog’s funny expression with her own lip, and the owner reaches across and smooths his lip down.