Heart Like a Dog

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

Practice Makes Perfect

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There are actually two stories that came out of our Saturday walk.  One was AMAZING and one was aggravating.

I was going to write the entire post with both stories and then decided that the really good, exciting thing should be celebrated all by itself with nothing negative involved.

On our Saturday morning walk we ran into Brady and his mom.  We walked for a few minutes and then ran into the dog trainer who always has about six dogs with her.

If the dogs are approaching cautiously I generally keep Delilah on leash.  If the dogs are running at us, I usually drop the leash, let them greet and then pick the leash back up.

I was feeling either brave or crazy Saturday and decided to take Delilah completely off-leash.

I made her wait, while she was un-clipped and then FREE DOG.

Delilah was off-leash.

She stayed right with our little pack as we continued our walk through the woods and when I called her to me, she came right away.

I guess in retrospect I was feeling brave, because I definitely wasn’t crazy enough to leave her off-leash too long.  I kept it at about five minutes and then secured her once again.

This was the first time she has been unleashed and allowed to run in about six months.

I was so pleased with her and so proud of her.  I wanted to dance a jig through the forest.

What a good girl!

Will I ever let her start our walk off-leash or let her free in the areas I know are tempting?

I’m not sure.

But this small success proved to me how imperative it is for me to work on their recalls every single day.

Practice makes perfect.

Here Here!

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Since I’m back to work I’ve got to either 1) walk the dogs on lunch or 2) walk them after work.  I really do prefer to walk them on lunch, but when it’s this hot, I opt for after work.

It was still hot yesterday but thank God the humidity broke.  There’s nothing like walking in 90 degree heat with 90% humidity.  It feels like you went swimming with all your clothes on and you’re just waiting for them to dry.

My pants seem to have a mind of their own and that’s to sag as far down as they possibly can.  I seriously considered putting a pair of boxers on so they could hang over the top.

You don’t believe that do you?

Good because I would never consider that.

Where was I?  Oh yes, the walk.

I normally let Sampson and Delilah pick our walk, I figure it’s their walk too so why shouldn’t they go where they want?  I keep a pretty good eye on them and if it looks like one of them has really committed to a certain path, I gently encourage the other one to go in the same direction.

What really surprises me is how frequently they go to the same trails, all kinds of possibilities yet they still follow the same paths.  I think they are checking their pee mail and waiting to see if they will run into some friends.

We were getting on towards the end of our walk last night when I saw what I thought was a deer running through the trees off to my left.  It caught everyone’s attention and I shouted to Sampson, “No, don’t do it.”  Thankfully he followed instructions and stopped what he was doing.

When I looked up, Bruno (who the dogs know well) was standing staring at us from about 25 yards away.

I shortened Delilah’s leash and told Sampson NO.

He took off after Bruno.

Delilah whined and pulled but I held fast.

Bruno is a big dog, but he’s also a big baby.  As soon as Sampson took off after him, Bruno took off too.

Sampson chased Bruno around a really large rock and I saw Delilah gear up to go and I knew I was a gonner.  So I dropped the leash.

I figured it’s better to chase her through the woods, than get pulled along the trail…on my face.

The dogs all converged at the rock, sniffing each other and I clapped my hands and called, Here, Here, come on let’s go.

What do you suppose happened?

Yup, she came right back to me.  I did the happy dance, gave her some yummy liverwurst, praised and petted her and we finished our walk.

I don’t think I am ready to take her off-leash but it’s nice to know I can give her a small bit of freedom.

Yes I'm Back At Work

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I complained to Hubby yesterday after Sampson, Delilah and I got back from our walk.

Maybe it was because I walk in long pants, with a long-sleeved shirt, socks, sneakers and a ball cap and it’s hot as freakin’ hell.  Really, within five minutes (or just as soon as I’ve reached the top of the hill) I’m sweating like a 500 pound man in a 500 degree oven.

Maybe it was because I can’t walk in the summer without  the bugs…well bugging me.  I swear to God a big sucker flew past my ear and was so stinkin loud the other day that the hair on my body stood on end.

Maybe it was because the bugs keep bugging Delilah and I’m constantly asking my dog to stop or wait while I swat at her.

Maybe it was because the dogs get hot and tired too and stop in the middle of the path and block my progress.

Maybe it was because those stupid spiders build their stupid webs across the trail and I’m constantly flailing and screaming like a little girl, and basically look like a lunatic swatting at nothing.

Or maybe, just maybe it was because it was my last day of vacation and I knew how much 1) I didn’t accomplish while I was home, 2) I’ll miss walking the dogs first thing in the morning and 3)  I’d hate going back to work.

Maybe it was all of the above.

Do you have a hard time adjusting after vacation?

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