A walk with my dog Romeo on a picture perfect, warm Autumn morning through our neighborhood into the park below our home. (Remember that Romeo is my rescue street dog from Costa Rica and we have been together since his arrival on April 26th. He is now 20 months old!) And here is Romeo's version of the event:
I had a mighty adventure this morning in the woods!
My guy and I were on a walk when I went right and he went left and the latch on my harness snapped open and I was free! At first I looked at my guy and he looked kind of scared, but then he tried to catch me and I thought we were playing a game!
So I ran down the hill and across the creek and around the edge of the park and then into the woods and up to the top of the highest hill! He could not catch me, but he kept trying and calling my name. Twice I treed a squirrel and I let my guy come near to see what I had done. Both times he told me "good job" but I would not let him grab me!
Then I ran across the hill and down to the other side of it to where the trail is at the bottom. By the time my guy got to the bottom, I was already all the way down to the open field.
Then my guy stopped calling my name in a nice way and he shouted my name if a VERY SERIOUS way! Oh my goodness, I felt so bad that I tucked my ears down against my head and I ran back to him as fast as I could. I was very far from him when he called me this way.
As soon as I reached him I tucked my head down to the ground and he put my harness back on. He gave me a good rubbing on both sides of my ribs that felt really nice. Then he said, "If I were you, I probably would have done the same thing..."
Then we finished our walk but we stopped one time at a bench and my guy sat down and I jumped up on the bench next to him and placed my head in his lap while he rested.
Gosh, it was a good time!
My take is naturally a little different. When the harness failed, I nearly screamed inside--we've never been untethered in such a wide open place. I know he loves me, but he's just kid...and a dog kid at that! My initial attempt what to grab him, but I did this by grabbing his tail and he is very sensitive about this sort of contact anyways. So I think it not only made him want to get away from my attempts to grabs him, but fueled his sense of "I'm free!!!" And before I could do much else he was off and then down a steep embankment to the creek...in the creek...out of the creek...across the creek... Me calling to him all the time. Then he ran up the steep hill on the opposite side of the creek. But then I had stumbled down to the creek, forded it with wet shoes, and was also ascending the opposite bank.
I did all of this without a single thought to anything at the time by him.
Once on top of the wooded hill, he treed a squirrel which gave me leave to catch up, but he would not let me grab him and then he was off to another tree far away and we played the same game of let me be within grabbing distance, but not catching me!
Back into the depth of the woods he ran, and then down a steep path on the other side until he again reached the far end of the hiking trail. I ran down the hill after him and when I reached the bottom, he had gone down the path so far away that I could barely see him. It was a place on the edge of a wide open field. My despair had risen within me to such a point that I just stopped and from somewhere deep inside shouted his name. "ROMEO!"
It was a gut wrenching angry/love filled command! And he stopped dead in his tracks. He look back at me for a second. Then he dropped his ears and tucked his tail and ran as hard as he could all the way back to where I was standing. He arrived to tumble on the ground before me and rolled over in complete submission demonstrating that benign toothy grin that dogs do when they are pleading for their very lives before a superior dominant force.
Exhausted and feeling the first hints of a deep and burning chest pain, I leaned over and vigorous rubbed his torso. He stood and I reattached his harness. While doing this, I whispered into his ears, "If I were you, I'd have done the same thing." Re-tethered, we began our walk home. It was a long walk. A slow walk. My chest throbbed with pain. I considered the possibility that I was have a heart attack and contemplated the irony of this all the way home.
At one point we stopped and I sat on a bench, Romeo jumped up next to me and placed his head in my lap waiting for me to resume of journey home. After about an hour, I felt much better.
Back to Romeo's take on the aftermath of our adventure.
together, too.
After that I took a long nap. When I awoke, I honestly felt amazing. It's a weird thing, but the intense exertion ended up invigorating my physically.
It also inspired me to the point that I knew I needed to replace Romeo's old harness. It has snapped open twice before. I bought it from Petsmart. I generally like their products, but this one was clearly faulty. So I determined to pay a visit to my local independent boutique dog shop: The Big Bad Woof. Have often gone to the store in Takoma Park, I also decided to go the newer store in Hyattsville.
After yesterdays "La Gran Evasión" Incident my guy and I went on an adventure in the truck today. When I first rode in the truck, I did not like it at all, but now I like it okay.
After a few minutes we arrived at this magical place full of gazillions kinds of Dog Treats and Toys and Stuff called the "Big Bad Woof". Only it wasn't "bad" at all! And except for the nice lady who helped us, there wasn't hardly anybody else there. My guy told me later that it was because it was Sunday morning so early and time changed and people were confused. And I thought how I think a lot of people are confused most of the time anyways...but back to my story.
We went there to buy me a new harness, and I got a customized fitting. My new harness is much softer than my old one. It fits like a glove, it has a better latch, and it's purple! That's one of the colors that I can sort of see!
I asked my guy to take a picture of me wearing it, but he said that I would never hold still long enough--I guess he was right!
And the BEST part? My guy bought me a Yak Milk chew treat for being such a good dog. The sales person kept calling me "suchasweetdog". I think that helped me get a treat, too!
And so what is to be said? All's well that ends well!
And push come to shove, had I had an actual heart attack and breathed my last....For whom would I rather be pursuing? And where would I rather be...the memory of which glued to my lifeless eyes?
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