Sit, Speak, Shake

Quiet night for KC and I. After picking her up at the sitters, we stopped home, changed our clothes and headed down to Dad's house to take care of the dog.

Taking a moment to refill her dish with cold refreshing water, I stood there debating on whether or not I wanted to try her for a walk, as KC pounded away at the piano in the sunroom.

As far as I was concerned, it was a win-win situation. The dog would benefit from the exercise and human interaction, and KC and I would feel a little safer when walking the nature trail near the house. Despite the fact that Sadie is far from being Cujo, I am quite convinced that a woman with a dog looks far more formidable than one who walks without. I did however come to some conclusions.

Though snapping on the leash was quite easy, walking with an untrained, undisciplined dog was not. After 5 minutes, I was quite convinced that Sadie was in desperate need of some basic doggy training. Ie: How to heel ...

Sticking her nose into every shrub, tree and bush, the dog was intent on dragging me behind her as I urged KC to keep up. Perhaps, I thought to myself, I was asking too much on day one. Maybe what the dog really needed was some love and attention before trying to turn her into woman's best friend.

So we turned around, and headed out to the back yard. Sitting in the grass, we watched as Sadie rolled around on her stomach, tail wagging with glee as we patted and praised her. Something about the way the dog looked at me, just about broke my heart. Her puppy dog eyes shone bright with joy, as if she was saying, "Yes! Someone thinks I'm special!" And I was tempted to bring her home ... Except for two reasons, (1) Emma (the resident black cat) would be none too happy and (2) Dogs are much harder to hide from the landlord than cats. (So much for good intentions.)

Chaining her back up for the night, I refilled the water dish again, scooped some food out into her bowl and promised to come back and see her in the morning.

"Small steps Sadie," I said to the dog. "We'll try again tomorrow and see what happens."