the good news is that the dog got to run
Aug. 31st, 2009 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katekatthe bad is that she slipped her leash to do so.
We're still working out the mechanics of this total-city dwelling existance, and the one thing that hasn't quite sorted itself out is how much activity the dog has to have. She gets a morning stroll that last about 7 minutes (or as long as it takes), and an evening walk of about half an hour. But I can verify, this is not enough. Instead she's slightly more nervous than she was in Austin - twitchy almost - and even though there are more people around the apartment to bark at and she's always been territorial, it seems to me that now it's mixed with a slightly more hesitant and ... neurotic vibe.
So tonight as I'm walking down our quiet street towards melrose, headphones in and music turned up loud, with the dog beside me, a runner came around the corner behind us. Before I even knew what was happening, the dog had growled, freaked, slipped her leash and was OFF. And of course, even though she sorta circled back towards me, since the runner was behind me coming closer to me, she didn't want to get close to him. I feel bad - I think I yelled at the guy to quit running because he was freaking her out. How many dogs get freaked by runners? Ours, apparently. She thought it was a GREAT GAME though, once she was off and he had gone past us. I tried running away from her so she'd chase me, and she did, but then she managed to turn it around into a game of chase-the-dog, for 10 terrifying minutes when i realized i had no cell phone and no one to help (because she's afraid of strangers she wouldn't even let them get close), and i wondered if there was any way i was going to get her home. Luckily she found something interesting in a driveway that was pretty deep and had a gate at the end so I was able to box her in. Luckily.
Solution: find a way to run the dog. Get her a collar that she can't slip out of, and if she can slip out of them all she's going to wear the harness whether she likes it or not. Take her to the f-ing dog park (something I've wanted to do since we got to LA but I also don't want to do it alone - though now I'm thinking alone might not be so bad)
the up-shot confirmed something i've known for a while - the dog doesn't really want to get away, she just wants to have more fun. The down-shot (is that even an expression?) is it was terrifying worrying not that she would run away, but that some idiot who doesn't care about stop signs and who guns their car like they do every night through these blocks was going to hit her because they weren't paying attention,and lung-killing (since we've got fires burning around the city and even walking is discouraged my full-tilt running after the dog, before the dog, around the dog is basically guaranteed to make me hack my lungs out).
at least we made it safely back home.
We're still working out the mechanics of this total-city dwelling existance, and the one thing that hasn't quite sorted itself out is how much activity the dog has to have. She gets a morning stroll that last about 7 minutes (or as long as it takes), and an evening walk of about half an hour. But I can verify, this is not enough. Instead she's slightly more nervous than she was in Austin - twitchy almost - and even though there are more people around the apartment to bark at and she's always been territorial, it seems to me that now it's mixed with a slightly more hesitant and ... neurotic vibe.
So tonight as I'm walking down our quiet street towards melrose, headphones in and music turned up loud, with the dog beside me, a runner came around the corner behind us. Before I even knew what was happening, the dog had growled, freaked, slipped her leash and was OFF. And of course, even though she sorta circled back towards me, since the runner was behind me coming closer to me, she didn't want to get close to him. I feel bad - I think I yelled at the guy to quit running because he was freaking her out. How many dogs get freaked by runners? Ours, apparently. She thought it was a GREAT GAME though, once she was off and he had gone past us. I tried running away from her so she'd chase me, and she did, but then she managed to turn it around into a game of chase-the-dog, for 10 terrifying minutes when i realized i had no cell phone and no one to help (because she's afraid of strangers she wouldn't even let them get close), and i wondered if there was any way i was going to get her home. Luckily she found something interesting in a driveway that was pretty deep and had a gate at the end so I was able to box her in. Luckily.
Solution: find a way to run the dog. Get her a collar that she can't slip out of, and if she can slip out of them all she's going to wear the harness whether she likes it or not. Take her to the f-ing dog park (something I've wanted to do since we got to LA but I also don't want to do it alone - though now I'm thinking alone might not be so bad)
the up-shot confirmed something i've known for a while - the dog doesn't really want to get away, she just wants to have more fun. The down-shot (is that even an expression?) is it was terrifying worrying not that she would run away, but that some idiot who doesn't care about stop signs and who guns their car like they do every night through these blocks was going to hit her because they weren't paying attention,and lung-killing (since we've got fires burning around the city and even walking is discouraged my full-tilt running after the dog, before the dog, around the dog is basically guaranteed to make me hack my lungs out).
at least we made it safely back home.
