Defeated and Lost – Part One

Did you ever have one of those days where you just feel defeated?

Today is one of those days for me, I can tell because I’ve  gone through two packs of Skittles, normally I’m just a one pack a day girl.

As you know I’ve been working with Delilah on her off leash behavior, she drags a 30 foot leash on our walks.  I really don’t like her dragging the leash because there are times when the dogs start running and chasing each other through wooded areas.  I have pictures in my mind of her running full-out and having that leash get stuck, stopping her short and snapping her neck or breaking her back.

It scares me.

If I am holding the leash, even when I know she is about to bolt she can still pull me off my feet.

Or worse, once I braced myself because someone entered the trail with their dog and Delilah took off after them.  Since I was prepared she hit the end of lead and just about flipped herself.

Many times on our walks I drop the leash and let her run, but there are certain areas where I hold fast.

I use a good quality, no grain kibble to reward the dogs when they return to me.  Many times I give them kibble just for checking in, whether I call them or not.

The best way I can explain the area I walk the dogs in is to say my road ends in a cul-de-sac, if you drove straight off the road, you would go through a wooded area and into a large open field which is used for LaCrosse or Soccer.  The field sits in the middle of a wooded area and there are houses beyond the woods on three sides.

In my Follow-up Friday post I wrote about a new spot Delilah had found to the left side of the field, when she took off on me last Thursday evening.  Since then when we’ve gone to the field I make sure to hold her leash or keep calling her back to avoid that area.

In that same Follow-up Friday post I wrote about two more dogs we had encountered on our walks where the dog owner, just walked away leaving their dog and expecting the dog to follow.

Last night I rushed home from work, changed into walking clothes, clipped the 30 foot leash on Delilah and headed out for a quick twenty-five minute walk.

Forty five minutes later I came home with Delilah on a 10 foot leash, I was frustrated, angry, embarrassed, sad and above all else, I felt defeated.

We ran into the two new dogs yesterday with their mom.  I found out their names were Norbert (siriusly love this name) and Kingston.  I sort of joined her on her walk, asking questions about the dogs.  Turns out Kingston (the one who practically followed me home) is a rescue they have had for about two weeks.

Two weeks and they are letting him run around without a leash.  But that’s another topic.

We got to the field and Delilah headed over to the left, she was too far away from me to grab that leash, so I called her.  She came back.  I rewarded her, good girl!

She headed over there again, I called her.  She ignored me and started stepping into the woods.  I called her, “DELILAH!  Don’t do it.”

She was gone.

I pulled out the training whistle and blew it, and blew it, and blew it.  Nothing.

I knew I was going to have to go in after her, so I headed into the woods.   She was in someone’s backyard and as soon as I saw her I could see that she was stuck, but I didn’t know on what.

Meanwhile Sampson and Kingston are running all over the place.  Into the woods, out of the woods.  Kingston’s mom is calling him and Sampson keeps running back following Kingston.

Delilah’s leash had slid under an outside, central air conditioning unit, which was sitting on a concrete slab on top of some paving stones that are secured in the ground.  The leash must have hit that perfect spot on the corner of one of the stones and I couldn’t pull it out.

The houses in this area are absolutely gorgeous.  This person’s yard is beautifully landscaped and immaculate.  There is a fifth wheel pull behind trailer right next to the air conditioning unit.

I pull, tug and manipulate and I cannot dislodge the leash.  I have nothing on me to cut the leash (and if I did, I would be leaving a piece of it there and they’d know SOMETHING had happened) and Hubby is not home for me to call for a bail out.

I have no choice but go ring this person’s door bell.

Utter and complete humiliation and embarrassment.

I leash Sampson and walk up to the house, I don’t see any lights on, but thankfully the owner was home and saw me approaching.

She came to the door and said, “Can I help you?”

Stuttering and apologizing I explain the situation and ask her if she has something I can cut the leash with.

I’ll be right out.”

She comes outside, where she is accosted by two dogs.

I try to calm them down.

She says, “It’s okay, I love dogs” as Delilah jumps up, desperate for someone, anyone to help her and reassure her that it will be ok.

She bends down and tries to tug on the leash, which doesn’t budge.  I tell her we can just cut it, she tells  me she would hate to cut my leash.

Really?  Really?  My dog is in your yard stuck on your property and you don’t want to cut the freakin leash?

I tell her I hope we haven’t done any damage to her property and she says, “No, you can’t damage this.”

She goes into the garage (Sampson tries to follow her) and comes out with a pair of scissors. They weren’t the sharpest pair but eventually they did the trick. She tells me maybe I can just tie the leash together.

Are you kidding me?  I don’t care about the freaking leash, I am standing here drowning in embarrassment and humiliation.  I just want to take my dog, go home and cry.

As we are standing there and I am trying to escape, here comes Kingston again.

More conversation about the dogs, “Now, who is this?”

I try to explain and inside I’m screaming, “Please just let me leave so I can find a hole to crawl into and die.”

Finally, finally, I have thanked her profusely and the three dogs and I head off.

There is of course more, but I realize how long this post is, so look for part two tomorrow (and I’ll post it early.)

And if you’ve hung in there this long, thank you!