Running

Maybe because I’m still annoyed about the lack of treats, but I am becoming increasingly impatient with Owner. That plus I haven’t seen Karl in a while and have no idea how to try to find Max have left me very frustrated and out of sorts. I love Owner, really I do, but I want to be free! 

We frequently play a game on some grass near our home with Sassy and Sassy’s Owner in which one of the humans throws a ball and Sassy and I race to see who can catch it first. Normally Owner doesn’t let go of the leash, but when we play this game, she relaxes and lets me chase the ball with Sassy. I dutiful return every time one of us has retrieved the ball. It would be unfair to categorize this as an outright attempt to lull Owner into a false sense of security, but this thought does play around in the back of my mind a little. 

So we’re playing fetch, and I’m running to get the ball, but, as usual, Sassy (who is lightning quick) gets the ball first. Then I see a squirrel and I’m off like a greyhound. I can’t help myself. I rush across the lawn then down a hill then across a creek and over the other side theoretically in pursuit of the squirrel.

But I realize that I have lost track of the squirrel. I am running for running’s sake. For freedom. It feels s so good, like lots of belly rubs and chicken- and beef-liver treats all at the same time. My damp paws make a lovely noise on the crunchy, leaf-strewn ground. I hear Owner and Sassy’s Owner voices calling me in the distance. But then I am stopped suddenly when my leash catches on a tree branch that had wedged itself between two rocks and I get pulled back and land on the rock. I wiggle around and manage to untangle myself but the jig is up. Owner has managed to catch up with me and grabs the leash.