Growler Goes Off-Leash

This evening, Evelyn wanted to visit her Grandma.  We called and arranged a time to visit.  Since I hadn’t run today, I decided to run while Aimee would ride her bike.  She would take the bike trailer and pull Evelyn behind her.

Now, Grandpa would be heartbroken if we arrived without Abby.  We were in a hurry so we pitched Abbey into the trailer with Evelyn, but without her harness or leash.  At this point I need to confess something.  Abby gets very upset when she’s separated from people she really likes.  As I ran in front of the bike, she whimpered and carried on as though we had cut off one of her legs…but we made it to our destination uneventfully.

Things were a bit different on the way back, though.  Abby made the same raucous, except that this time she emerged from the back of the bicycle trailer and landed on the road.  To her credit, she didn’t miss a beat.  Since we didn’t have her collar or leash, we put her back in the trailer and instructed Evelyn to keep an eye on her.

Rriiigggghhhhht.   Suffice it to say that poor Aimee nearly went over her handlebars when Abby crawled out the front of the trailer and nearly got run over.  She would have too, if I hadn’t grabbed the trailer and stopped trailer and bike in their tracks.  The bike trailer is completely enclosed and velcroed shut, so it’s a bit of a mystery as to how our little monster-dog got out.  It probably has something to do with her four pound size.

This time we realized that we certainly could not put her back in the trailer.  I carried her for a while but she was getting jostled quite a bit.  Finally Aimee suggested that I could put her down and try to get her to stick with me.

With Andy, sure, no problem.  With Abby, I dunno.  She doesn’t normally get distracted, and she does normally come when I call her…however she is really terrible about healing.  We didn’t have many other options though, so I tried.

First we ran about two blocks at an 8:45/mile pace.  Her little legs were a blur.  When she finally began to tire I slowed to a walk.  Per usual, Abby tried to get ahead of me.  Also per usual, I chastised her for getting ahead.  Unlike usual, she realized that she didn’t have the comfort of her leash on.  Rather than running ahead and relying on her leash for communication, she realized that she would need to keep track of me herself…and she did.  We walked the remaining three blocks without incident whatsoever, Abby walking next to me.

Not bad for a six month old puppy!