Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

To Boldly Go Where No Dog Has Gone Before

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Yesterday I shared a little bit about an early morning walk I took with the dogs on Friday.

I had sent my friend a text asking if she and Brady were around for a walk, but hadn’t had a response back.  I figured we would just head her way and see if we ran into them.

On our way, we ran into one of her neighbors, Mark and his dog Bruno.  Since he was heading the same way we were, we walked together, chatting a little as we went.

The best way to describe our walking trails is like this:

My road ends in a cul-de-sac, if you went straight you would head up a hiking path to the field, just before the field the path heads up the hill to the right and if you went straight out that path you would enter another cul-de-sac.  My friend’s house is the second house on the right hand side.  The first house belongs to M & M who have Tia, the German Shepherd.

Just as we got to the top of the trail, near my friend’s house Bruno and Delilah started to play.  I made the mistake of dropping the leash.

As soon as I dropped the leash she stuck her nose to the ground and she headed out of the woods and into my friend’s neighborhood.  I snagged Sampson and said, “Go, Go, Go, Go, Go, Go” and started running back the way we came.

Delilah kept going.

I quickly realized she wasn’t responding, so Sampson and I turned around and headed out to get her.

Meanwhile Mark and Bruno were walking home and I could see Mark trying to get Delilah’s attention, but she ignored him.  She had wandered into M & M’s yard and their garage door was open.

Yup, Friday morning at 7:00 o’clock, Delilah walked right into M & M’s garage.

I was horrified.

Mark meanwhile had started walking down the driveway and was almost to the garage.  I got to the end of the driveway and started down myself, Delilah decided she was done in the garage and stepped off to the side thinking she could head over to Brady’s house, Sampson  meanwhile saw the open garage and decided to investigate like Delilah had.

Luckily for me as Delilah dodged out of the garage, Mark stepped on her leash and handed her back to me.  Sampson returned when called and we headed back into the woods to finish our walk.

Whew!

I will not be dropping her leash again anytime soon.  I swear to God, if she falls down a friggin rabbit hole, I’ll hold onto that leash and follow her down.

Go, Go, Go, Go, Go

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In yesterday’s post I mentioned Delilah had a little off-leash hike. If you’ve been reading for a while you know there are certain areas Delilah is prone to running off to.  One of these areas is in the field.

When we entered the park I unclipped her leash and gave her freedom.  I think off-leash works best for Delilah if I try to keep her focus on me, so I call her back to me quite frequently.  She was returning every time I called.

We went to the field.  There was one time where she turned and started running away from me and she didn’t respond to my call.  I turned around and said, “Sampson come.”

As soon as I knew I had his attention I started running the other way and I said, “Go, go, go, go, go, go, go” really loud as we ran away from Delilah.

Do you know that worked?

And the only reason I can think why is that I sometimes psyche the dogs into going outside by giving them a little pep talk.  I think the excitement in  my voice tells her something exciting and fun is about to happen.

Of course I don’t know this with any certainty, but it makes sense to me.

After the field we made our way up the trails and then started back down towards the rail trail.  As we approached the rail trail I leashed Delilah again, and shortly after that we ran into the couple I mentioned in yesterday’s post.

Naturally we got to talking about dogs. This couple had a Husky for 14 years.  The man said he used to walk his dog every day and was so in the habit that he continues to do so.  He also said he always walked his dog off-leash, there was an older man that he used to encounter and the man always said, dogs were meant to run free and not be leashed.

He went on to say, times have changed and people have changed.  There are so many people out there on the rail trail now walking their dogs, but they don’t want you to look at their dogs or pet their dogs and he’s not sure what happened.

I’m not really sure what happened either.  I don’t remember when it changed, but it certainly has.  I don’t ever remember our childhood dogs on leashes.  Is it because our parents didn’t walk them?  Or because there were fewer people?  Have people grown less tolerant of dogs? What do you remember about dog etiquette from when you were a child?

After we parted ways, I kept Delilah on the leash.  I felt like it was best to end our walk with her remaining successful.

And she was.

Sunday Morning Hikes

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We had a weather prediction for (much-needed) rain today.  The rain was supposed to start early this morning and get to be a down-pour by the afternoon.

My plan was to walk the dogs early before the heavy rain started.  I will walk them in the heavy rain, but prefer the lighter stuff when given the option.  While it was cool and overcast (yay, no bugs) the rain held off.

In CT our weathermen (and yes, most of them are men) only have about a 50% chance of being accurate.  Honestly, if I was only 50% accurate in my job, well…..I wouldn’t have one.  But this post is not about weather.

I figured if I hit the trails early and with the cooler weather, we wouldn’t encounter a lot of people on the trails.  And I was right.

The trail system we walk has access to a rail trail.  Whenever we approach the intersection, Sampson gets excited.  He knows people are down there and he wants to go and greet them.

There is a section where two different trails run close together.   When the trees are full, I’m not sure if you can see the other trail but as the trees are just beginning to fill-in here, you can see easily see the trail.

I saw a couple, walking up from the rail trail.  It is a couple we have run into before.  The last time they had their daughter’s dog with them, but today they were alone.

If I see people before the dogs do, I rein them in.  In Sampson’s case I just say, “Sampson No” and he will either sit or wait.  Very rarely will he run ahead if I give him that command.

Today he stood, looking.  The couple stopped and acknowledged us and I asked, “Can he say hello?”

The man responded, “Of course.”

I swear Sampson understood the conversation because as soon as the words had come out of his mouth, Sampson was charging through the brush towards the couple.

Of course once Sampson was on his way Delilah needed to say hello too.  I dropped the leash and after she had greeted them, she turned right around and ran back to me!!

That’s not the end to the story, but it is the end to this blog post.  Tune in tomorrow to hear about the rest of Delilah’s off leash hike.

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