Off-leashing

Thank god for my therapy dog. I like to call him Little Horse cause he's tall and skinny and loves to run and run and run and lucky for me he provides hours of endless entertainment and unadulturated love. He's not really a therapy dog in any traditional sense but his sweet little spazzy nature always seems to make me laugh.

The biggest thing in Lil Horse's life these days is that he is still adjusting to our cross-country move from North Carolina. We've been trying really hard to get Lil Horse to be off leash like all the other San Francisco doggies. Back in Carolina where Lil Horse was born no dogs were off leash unless we were in the middle of the woods. Here, where cars and bicycles are abundant, all of the dogs are just prancing around without leashes like regular people. The first day I went to the tiny park near us with Lil Horse (not fenced in or anything) hordes of dogs were just running around, prefectly contained without a single constraint. There I was with Lil Horse, on leash, and he was doing his usual jumping up and down and running around me in circles.

I got some strange looks, let me tell you. I felt like that person with the seriously mis-behaving child where everyone is thinking "what kind of parent is SHE?"

Now I COULD let Lil Horse off leash. We've done it before in our Carolina 'hood and in the woods. Problem is that Lil Horse really likes to be off leash. So much so that he will run away, lord knows where, for oh, say, twenty minutes, and then re-appear happy as a clam, ignoring the fact that I've been calling him for twenty minutes and am now seriously irritated and discombobulated. I COULD do that... but he'd probably get hit by a car in two seconds flat, plus I'd probably get more of those looks that I like so much from all the other doggie owners.

So instead of that fantastic fate we've trying to teach the pup to be off leash. This just means that Lil Horse gets treats galore every time he goes for a walk. It's a pretty good deal if you ask me. Needless to say Lil Horse is now gaining weight. Lucky for him he started out real skinny so he can stand to gain a bit of poundage.

He's getting a bit better with paying attention but man, we have a long way to go.

One day I hop to take him for a walk and have no-one say, "Oh, is he a puppy?" and have to say in return, "Um, well, no, he's actually two..."