Friday, November 4, 2011

My Neighbors Totally Think I'm Crazy. Good Thing We're Moving.

Well, the final countdown is on. We officially have to be out of our place in 7 days. One week?! Cue sheer panic. I have SO many before and after photos of our new house already, and cannot wait to share them! More on that later.

During the whirlwind of the last few weeks, we have been spending pretty much every waking hour at work or over at the new house doing more work. This has left very little time for my typical wifely duties. Even things like taking Riley on her morning walk have suffered. 

Our newest "puppy accessory" came in the form of a prong collar about two weeks ago. Since Riley is a lab mix, aka a ball of energy, she tends to want to "lead" when we set out for walks, or even just a quick trip outside. 

Ok, enough background. So, here's the scene. It's about 8AM on a Friday, and I'm hustling around (standard) trying to get myself out the door for another day at the office. I finally have myself ready, when I remember that the little one needs a quick trip outside, since the poor girl will have to hold it for the next 9-10 hours. So, I grab the leash and new, sparkly collar, hook her up, and off we go. 

Our morning trips outside are typically pretty quick. Riley gets her business done, and I'm on my way. One of the things we've been trying to teach her is to sit and wait at the front door until her leash is removed, and we can both leisurely head inside. Well, that is not quite how this particular day went.

I had Riley at the front door, even sitting down (success!). I remove her collar and leash and open the door for her to head inside. Well, she had other things on that puppy brain of hers. She had seen a few interesting morsals on our trip down the stairs that lead to our door. You know, things like leaves, sticks and cigarette butts. Naturally, I had told her "no" at our first pass over them, and proceeded to hurry down the rest of the steps. Well, that smarty pants specifically remembered the location of said cigarette butt, and quickly took off up the stairs to grab it and play a quick game of "Keep Away." 

So, my ten month old puppy is bolting for the nearest parking lot, while her Momma runs after her screaming her name. Pathetic much? And, in case you had forgotten, I had just taken her collar and leash off at the door (total fail), so she was borderline impossible to catch. So, for the next 3-4 minutes (what felt like an absolute lifetime), I tried to creep closer and closer to my beloved pet. Close enough to grab her and bring her back inside where it was safe. She obviously didn't understand this, so she just kept horsing around, running in between cars and out into open parking lot space where she could be run over at any moment.

If you were one of my neighbors that morning, you would have looked out your window to find a puppy prancing around around in the parking lot, and her helpless owner making a complete fool of herself by repeatedly shouting the dog's name through sobs and tears. 

How did I get her back inside? By bribing her with food, of course! And, after this traumatizing experience, I think it is fair to say that our neighbors are ready for us to move on so we can stop making scenes in the parking lot. And Riley, I am sorry for all of those times that I have threatened to "open the door and let you run away," because after that stunt you pulled? Momma probably won't be letting you out of her sight off that leash for quite some time.

Ohhh, puppy love. Has this ever happened to any of you?! Please help me assuage my "I'm a bad puppy Momma, and am obviously not ready for actual human children yet" phase.


Don't forget to come back Monday for the FIRST EVER Our Love Nest giveaway!! I am so excited to be able to offer this giveaway to my readers, and not a moment too soon! Hint: it will help you gear up for the holidays, and I wouldn't have it any other way!!

5 comments:

Samantha Jo said...

Not to worry. At least your puppers didn't scare the living daylights out of anyone! I also have a lab, named Bruce, who weighs about 125 lbs. He's a BEAST, to say the least, and would be very frightening if you didn't know that he's the biggest baby of a dog you've ever met in your life. Anyway... over the summers, we like to sit outside and enjoy the country air, so "B" hangs out with us, leash-less, since he usually doesn't get too far from home. Until one day, when a man rode past our house on his bicycle, and Bruce darted INTO THE ROAD (terrifying) and started chasing him for about 100 yds. until he got tired and we could catch up to him and drag him back to the house. Needless to say, we keep the leash handy and ready to latch on at any moment when we're outside now!

So scary when fuzzy children try to run away! Good luck with the move :)

Kodie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kodie said...

My dog is the king of this trick!! At my mom's old house we lived right around a curve in the road that people would come flying around so if he happened to be gallavanting down the street and some punk teenager came around the corner at nascar speeds, Joe would have been a goner. And of course around said corner was the park Joe tended to run to (and if there were people at the park? Forget about it. That nice Frasier dog look a like running toward you barking his adorable little head off? Yes, please take cover because HE WILL BITE YOU!) One time my mom was so mad at him for running off AGAIN that she put him in the bed of the truck for their 5 second ride home. He was so scared back there that that was punishment enough. He would do the whole wait till you're inches from him then dart off move...drove me bonkers!!

Darby Hawley said...

Oh my I would have been freaking out too!!!! I'm sure those few minutes felt like the most dangerous eternity possible! So glad you got baby girl home safely! Love the new blog look too :-)

Miranda said...

The day of my bridal shower a few years ago my dog ran off in to the WOODS! so i ran after him and yelling and crying and freaking out and finally I just stopped. He thought I was chasing him (which I was) so I tried to run the opposite direction to see if he would chase me..it worked! I am so thankful...he is never without his leash and either is my other dog now! We have the prong collars too...helps so much with the pulling!