Saturday, December 11, 2010

The ugly truth about being off-leash



Some weeks after my sprained ankle incident, I found out that grand dad has been taking my boy off-leash to a patch of grass next to the main road. I'm resolved to trying to stay positive about the whole idea. I'm also intrigued about knowing how it's done .... how you wake the boy from scent trance when it's time to go.

With my ankle still on recovery mode, I've mustered the courage to do some off-leash with the boy this week after dinner. On the first try-out, we went to the park down the road. Ruki went on his sniffing frenzy the moment he jumped out of the car. I was yelling at him every few minutes to stay close while walking my girl on leash. Now, every walk is not complete without a poo. So as Ruki started to squat down, I noticed his leash dangling at his behind. We rushed over to pull the leash from under but.. Too late...I got piping hot poo on my hand!! Yucks! We left the park hurriedly and I drove home with one hand on the steering wheel!

I had a feeling Ruki didn't get enough as it felt kind of rushed the first time. Like a pit (poo) stop. So, the next night...we were back again. This time, I'm trying to be calm about the whole thing...no dangling leash. Ruki was freely sniffing away. I was still calling him to stay close like every other second. When he reached the end of the path, he decided to climb up a hillside and disappeared into the darkness. Since I was in no condition to climb, Riko and I ran back to the car. As I was bundling the girl into the car, I heard running sounds coming from the darkness. It was Ruki racing down the road. Thank goodness! Immediately, I summoned him into the car. He did his last sniff and jumped up the car.

TOO SCARY...so far it's been sniff zombie, runaway boy, frantic "come here" shouts, zero recall and poo-in-the-hand.

One good thing is the prompt departure from daycare. They get harnessed-up before leaving daycare. So the dilly-dally Boy gets promptly into the car before he knows he's going off-leash in a while.

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