Yesterday morning, twelve hours after my happy dog-walking post, something unexpected happened: Sandy and I were three-tenths of a mile from home when she slipped her collar and ran away from me like she was possessed. She's fine, but it was a little scary.
We adopted Sandy on August 12, and she's been such a good little dog. She almost always comes the first time I call her name, she responds to "sit" with reasonable consistency, she never chews anything she shouldn't or gets into the garbage or begs at the table. One day earlier in the fall her leash got disconnected when we were walking, and as soon as I called her name she turned around and came right back to me so I could clip it again. Another time Stella and I were going on a Non-Dog Outing and Sandy slipped out the back door with us, hoping for a Dog Outing. She came obediently back to the door and went in immediately, disappointed but cooperative.
So when she first slipped away yesterday I wasn't worried. Right after she poops she prances around as if to say, "ah, I feel so much lighter now," and she always wants to run as soon as possible after I get things cleaned up. I thought she'd come right back as soon as she realized I wasn't with her.
But she didn't.
I abandoned the mess temporarily and sprinted after her, calling her name again. She didn't slow down; she didn't look over her shoulder. She just ran, hell bent for leather. "At least," I thought to myself, "the students are mostly gone for Thanksgiving break, so there will be fewer distracted drivers speeding through the neighborhood." Just then, a car turned a corner, driving right up the route she needed to follow to get home.
"SANDY, WATCH FOR THE CAR!" I bellowed. I don't know whether the driver heard the bellow or saw the dog or both, but it stopped before they could collide. After Sandy ran in front of the stopped car and up our street, the passenger hopped out and tried to catch up with her while the car followed them slowly.
At this point I'd covered about three-quarters of the distance and I was out of steam. Later I understood why: my watch told me after the fact that I was running at a 7:15 pace, and I am not a 7:15 kind of runner. But it felt urgent to catch the dog before she encountered another car, so off I ran again.
When Sandy got to our driveway she wasn't quite sure what to do. The guy on foot didn't know it was her house, obviously, and was still trying to contain her. She ran back down the sidewalk to me, and I quickly leashed her and thanked the guy on the sidewalk. I wobbled inside, gasping and adrenaline-raddled.
The whole thing only took a few minutes, but it shook me up. Why had my sweet cooperative dog lost her mind like that?
I wondered if she wanted more running time than she'd been getting, but she hasn't wanted to run any more than usual today. I wondered if she was unexpectedly hungry after a long walk (she usually beelines for her bowl right after our morning walk), but she went straight to the couch and curled up with Stella; she didn't eat anything for a while afterward. I wondered if I'd totally misread my dog and actually she had needed me to teach her to heel and generally discipline her with a firmer hand. I was feeling pretty bummed about the whole thing.
Today, though, I am wondering if I might have scared her.
We don't know much about Sandy's background, but she seems to have had some experiences that left her cautious about people and particularly fearful of men. For weeks and weeks she wasn't sure what to make of Elwood. She'd approach him to be petted and then flinch away for no reason. It was like she was saying, "I want to trust you, but is this the day when you kick me in the belly?" Since she's been here we've had one day with some brief kid drama, and she ran as far away from the yelling as she could possibly go, all the way to the opposite corner of the house.
Yesterday might have been the first time she'd ever heard me raise my voice. Is that why she kept running, maybe?
I tightened her collar, which had loosened itself up. I kept her closer to me during the post-poop prancing today. I gave her some extra opportunities to go fast, in case she needed to burn off some energy. But I'm still confused about why she did that, and a little worried about what might happen next time.
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