One day, when Geordie was several years old, we were out for a
How we imagine walking with our dogs will be.
walk when a neighbor saw us and said, “You are so lucky that your dog walks nicely on a leash! We just got a new puppy, and all she does is pull and pull.” Lucky? Really? I know she had to have seen us slogging around this neighborhood, regardless of the season, all to exercise my beast and try to get him to heel. Three years of walking several miles each week and coaching my boy every step of the way
If you have a terrier, you know that you must keep them on a leash pretty much all the time. (They are too interested in the world to reliably come when called.) In an effort to get Geordie some exercise, I bought him a really long, 50 foot leash. I thought that he and I would be able to romp, chase balls, catch Frisbees and such with him still safely tethered to me.
I was so disappointed when I took Geordie out on his new leash! Although it was 50 feet long, all he cared about was being 50 1/2 feet away from me. I couldn’t engage him in any games; he only wanted to pull further away.
Finally I had had enough. Geordie was busy sniffing mystery scents as far away from me as he could, so I decided to lie on the ground and watch the clouds for a bit. After a few minutes, I closed my eyes and simply enjoyed the quiet.
The next thing I knew, I felt something brush against my hair. Ew! What was that?!? Turns out, it was my puppy gently sniffing me. When he was done, he laid down next to me with his fur barely brushing against me so that he could tell if I moved. Everything about his body language said he was checking to see if things were still cool between us. Sure, puppy, they’re cool. This was one of the first times Geordie seemed to show an interest in whether or not I was upset with him.
After a few minutes, I gave him a hug to let him know we were OK and to release him from his apologetic “good behavior”.
