A Good Walk in the Woods

Fate in the woods

Fate was way ahead of me on the path before she turned around to look for me.  It was our first walk alone in the woods together and she had stayed close until now.  I called come come come in my up puppy voice, but she just stood there looking at me.  So I crouched down and held out my arm and called again.  Still she just stood there.

The way she looked at me and didn’t move, reminded me of yesterday when I was hanging  clothes on the line.   Fate grabbed a sock out of the basket and started running around the yard with it.  I foolishly tried calling her then too.  Needless to say, she didn’t come.   As I walked towards her she ran away.  Then I stopped myself, knowing I’d only be making a new really fun game for her. ( Fate steals the sock(or whatever) and Maria chases her around.) So instead, I got an empty plastic water bottle and threw it towards her.   She dropped the sock, picked up the bottle and started playing with it.

I don’t know if Fate learned anything from yesterdays, sock and bottle episode, but I did. There was something about the way she stood looking at me that made me think this was an important moment in our walk.   I decided I wasn’t going to move until she came to me.   And I let her know this by sitting down and relaxing, getting ready to wait as long as I had to.   After a few moments I tried it again, come come come I called arms out. This time, when she didn’t come, I put my arms down and thought about how I could sit there the rest of the day.  It didn’t take long after that for her to start moving towards me.  Once again I called her and this time she came running into my arms.  I praised her and rubbed her belly and we had a splendid reunion.

Success, I though smiling.  But it wasn’t about one of us winning and one of us losing. It was about how when something like this happens, it makes it better for both of us.  It helps make for a good walk in the woods.

2 thoughts on “A Good Walk in the Woods

  1. Wow Maria, you did really great. So patient. This type of scenario is going on w Melody and I when I take her out on her lead to graze. We’re mulling it over, she and I, how to get her head up and stop eating the delicious grass when I’m ready to move on. We are working it out, slowly so she feels success also. 🙂 You know how they told us, you set your animal up to succeed, not to fail?

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