I took the canine over to the park for a quick sniff around before hitting the sidewalks for a longer walk. She checked out her usual spots and I followed her around the snowy inclines. Then I noticed that she’d stumbled across something semi-exciting. She was sniffing like crazy, then she picked it up in her mouth and began to trot around happily. A nice, flat piece of rawhide that every other dog in traveling through had somehow overlooked.
She was psyched!
My problem was that she also thought I was going to take it from her. As a result, she ran away from me every time I got close. It took me several minutes to get close enough to get the leash on her. I guess she somehow believed that I wouldn’t snatch away her prize, which she had gripped firmly in her teeth.
As we left the park, I swear she was bouncing along. So happy. So thrilled. So joyful. (Just like Joy skipping along the street, Michelle and Stacy!) My dog who stops every ten feet to sniff something was trotting at a nice speed, intent on not stopping for anything.
I imagine the refrain in her head going something like this, “Let’s go home. Let’s go home. Let’s go home so I can chew my rawhide.”
Unfortunately for her, I had every intention of getting in whatever form of exercise I could today (jeans are tight, ya know). So she kept a tight grip on the rawhide, and we walked.
At one intersection, as we the walk sign switched in our favor, I began a quick little jog across the street, towing her along. But she was resisting. “Juliette!” I growled at her. Crossing a semi-busy intersection ain’t no time to be lagging behind. So I pulled her across with me with a slight glare. That’s when I noticed what had happened. She’d dropped her treasure!
The poor thing. I really hadn’t imagined that she’d let go of it. And now that we were across and traffic was flowing, I wasn’t about to turn around. I did my best to ease her sorrow by flipping her a few treats from my pocket as we finished up our walk.
Then I did what any loving dog mommy would do: I presented her with a rawhide from our stash when we got home.