It is with a slight wry grin and a tongue in cheek sense of humour I must report that today there was a minor industrial accident. The incident took place at a private location and involved Shadow, my Canine.
Shadow, the Border Collie cross with Kelpie; aged 4; while on leash and under control of less than 3m of leash decamped from his crate out of the back of the can and came face to face with a small wired enclosure that was stopping him lazing on one of his favourite lawns at a regular clients home.
The wired enclosure was there due to the small herd of sheep on the lawn, waiting to lamb…
Shadow was very well behaved and after an initial eyeball to eyeball to eyeball, times about 6 more rounds I think. He then decided they were no amusement so commenced his favourite pastime, of sniff, lick, scratch, sniff again or wee.
Shadow lavishly and generously donates at around 2000 stops per day.
Getting ever and ever closer to the metal stakes, carrying the wire….
Client and I start chatting about previous work and work to be done today.
I feel tension on the handle I am holding of the retracting leash that Shadow is held upon, and I’ve run him out around 3m of line, so he has some spare but also close enough to be able to be yanked into leash if needs be. I tell him no and he stops pulling and wanders with the leash slackening towards me.
Client and I retreat from wired lawn with sheep into freshly cleared copse area that contains a delightful Magnolia tree that has just been revealed after a meeting and date with a brushcutter and Shadow of the Gardener for a few afternoons. We continue chatting as Shadow greats clients daughter with soft licks and cuddles and begs for some fusses from someone he knows will give them and play with him as she has done before.
Client and I then stroll down the drive to discuss agenda items further away, this is when the incident occured I hasten to add.
Shadow has shown no interest at all after the initial glance at the sheep, and the loss of his lazing and lounging lawn for the afternoon in the sun has been forgotten as it’s obvious he won’t be spending the day there anyway…
I think it may have been at this time the resident canine let out a bark and a yip of joy as the crunching footsteps were heading towards him, so he knew there may be another treat from me on offer soon. Or the chance for a bit of chase the friendly Collie who comes with me.
That or the time clock between cocking his leg and starting the sniff, lick, scratch, sniff again or wee routine had nearly run down.
No, he didn’t dive for one of the sheep for eyeballing him.
No, he didn’t cock his leg and get zapped up the stream.
I think his tail tagged the wire as Shadow did his little Dressage impression and does the cute backwards look while walking forwards but in a slight crab fashion.
The height he gained from a standing start and looking backwards was simply astounding.
No, really. It was.
The yelp was as girly as you could wish for on a Sunday night in a cabaret bar named after a colour (Any so long as it was a lighter shade of Red or perhaps Green of you grew up somewhere posh.)
The look of shock on his face and disbelief as he double took thin air as there was nothing there that made the snap and pop on his derriere.
I must admit, I had to laugh. He soon came strolling over for cuddles and fusses with a look of shame on his face for not working it out.
Learning curve my friend, it’s part of the learning curve. 🙂
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