The Sarge Chronicles: Off Leash

Doesn’t he look like he’s pleading with me not to write about him? It’s not gonna work.

Last Thursday, as with all days, I got up to walk Sarge. I’ve mentioned him before in this blog, my german shepherd mix rescue from the MD SPCA (a place I threaten to return him to on occasion even though I’ve had him since he was 6 weeks old and he’s now 5 years old). Anyway… So, Thursday, started as it does with all days–a .40 mile (roundtrip) walk. On our way back we saw one of my neighbors with his 3 big dogs. They crossed the street and went on their way. Sarge got excited at seeing them and then pulled himself together. We again started on our way home and Sarge proceeded to have another ‘moment’ but was unable to settle down this time. The next thing I knew, Sarge slipped his no-slip collar and proceeded to cross the street by himself and…RUN. (Please keep in mind that Sarge isn’t all that great at crossing the street when he’s on a leash, so off-leash is beyond suspect. But he made it safely.)

This is the 2nd time in 5 years that this has happened. The last time, (he didn’t cross the street) after 1-hour of no success with the help of a kind stranger, I just started walking home. Sarge followed–though his route included walking through every one of my neighbors’ yards. Once home, I had to open my car door and say, “Let’s go!” in order to get him in a confined place. Hard to believe, but that was ‘easy.’

This time, the school bus driver that was picking up children in my neighborhood tried to help beckoning him to the bus–didn’t work. My neighbor that was standing with her youngest child tried beckoning him with her keys–didn’t work. My repeated calls of “let’s go”–didn’t work. So, in honor of the recent NFL draft, I attempted to tackle Sarge on one of his laps past me. He yelped and I went down on both knees, hard (I think my career as a defensive end may be over.) Needless to say, that at least got his attention and on his last lap I screamed, “Sit!”–and he immediately laid down.

As of Thursday night, Sarge has a brand new harness for our walks. For my troubles, I am unable to comfortably walk up and down stairs, I’m taking ibuprofen, icing and elevating my left leg. Subsequent morning (and evening) walks have been, thankfully, uneventful–just the way I like it.

There is no moral. There is no real world application (though I’m sure there’s something to be learned in all of it.) This is simply, my life.