Being friendly?

I tend to make friends fairly easily. I try to greet most anyone that I meet on the street or in their yards. I say hello to humans and animals alike. And I try to call the dogs and cats by name.

Last month a new family moved into our neighborhood. The humans are not so visible but I noticed that they have a dog and at least one cat who sits in the window. The dog has a dog house and on the wall across from the doghouse was a plaque that said "Ryo".

Every morning I go past the house on my way to crosswalk duty.

"Good morning Ryo. How are you doing?"

"Hi Ryo. Looking good this morning!"

Ryo doesn't say anything to me. He just stares as I go by.

The other day I met Ryo and his owner in the forest.

"Hello. Nice day for a walk isn't it?" Ryo's owner smiled and nodded.

"Ryo's very nice and quiet isn't he?" Ryo's owner stared at me much like Ryo does and went on with her walk.

"Hmm. Not particularly sociable but she seems like a nice neighbor."

Yesterday I met Ryo and his owner again and greeted them.

"Hi. So nice to meet you. I have cats and dogs too. How old is Ryo?" the owner stuttered and stammered.

"Excuse me. Maybe I've made a mistake. I thought you were our new neighbors with the dog named Ryo."

"Ryo is my son. The dog's name is Kuro..."

I did a lot of apologizing and sputtering. I wonder what the real Ryo has thought when I go by every morning and loudly call out my greetings...

He needs to put his plaque in another place.