Mickamack
06-23-2000, 07:37 AM
This morning as I was walking with Mickey, I had a vivid and funny memory of when he was about 1 year old. As we were walking, he always stops and sniffs the good smells. I'll keep walking, and he'll catch up to me.
He'll run full force with all engines burning. Mickey is a big runner. LOVES to run! He'll just run and run, and run. He just loses himself in his running. It's like he zones out. It's only him and the open road...but this wasn't always the way he was...we found this out the hard way...
We always take Mick up to our local high school for walks. They have this big open field, with a path cut out all around the edge. It's about 1 mile to walk the whole thing. Well, when we first took Mick up there, we didn't need to put him on a leash, because he always stayed so close to us. There's nobody up there but us, so we just didn't worry about it. I think he was afraid of everything and looked to us to keep him safe.
It seemed like that all changed one day. We let Mickey start to run, but he didn't stop. We kept calling after him to stop, but he didn't. He was in "selective hearing" mode with his paws over his ears saying, "I hear you talking, but I'm not listening". He certainly wasn't afraid of anything this day!
Well he took off like lightning! He rounded the first corner. We could see him still. We kept calling after him, but to no avail. Once he was getting close to rounding the 2nd corner, we realized just how far ahead of us he was and he STILL WAS NOT STOPPING!!! http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/eek.gif
Well, my husband and I take off running. We ignore the cut-out path and just start running diagonal across the tall grass, just to get to him. We're yelling for him and he just keeps running...."la-dee-dah...I'm in running mode". It seemed like he was singing to himself "Born Free"!
Well, a few seconds after he rounded the 2nd corner, I think something kicked in, and all of a sudden he STOPPED dead in his tracks. All of a sudden, he HEARD that we were calling for him, and it was just then that he realized that WE HADN'T BEEN RUNNING ALONG WITH HIM that whole time. It's like he completely ZONED OUT. (only him and the open road)
Once he realized that we weren't running right along with him that whole time, he FREAKED out, because he was by himself and he didn't know where we were. He starts looking all over the place for us. He can hear us calling off in the distance, but can't find us. You could see what exactly his mind was processing at the time. It was something...
Meanwhile, we are still trucking across the field at full force, running through waist-high grass, hoping we don't trip over something we can't see or break our ankles.
Since he could hear us, but not SEE us, he decided to run back in the direction of where he just came from. He was going to run back to the last spot he saw us, which was about 3/4 of a mile in the opposite direction of where we currently were. Of course he started doing this just as we were starting to catch up with him. Needless to say, he started running away from us again, and we're running after him. I was so upset, I was out of breath, my legs hurt, and I was crying...it was some sight.
Well, he rounded the first corner, and then the second corner, and was finally getting to the place where we started our walk earlier. At the same time, we turn around and are hauling A** across the field again. At this point I was screaming "Mickey, please just stop!!!"
Once he got to the starting point he waited for a while, and just ran around in circles, listening for us. We started to finally catch up to him. He could see us off in the distance coming towards him, but then it seemed that his fear mode kicked in.
It was almost like he KNEW that he did something wrong. When we started to get close to him, he freaked out again, and started running...but this time into the path of the parking lot...with cars!
I just yelled "Mickey, NOOOOOOO" Oh, goodness, I think it was only God which stopped that dog from running that day. He finally stopped, and let us come up to him. But he was all scared and submissive with his tail tucked. We picked him up. I had tears still in my eyes. None of us could breathe. The only thing that we could manage out of our mouths at the time was "Mickey that was a BAAADDD boy! Please, don't ever do that again."
We decided that we had enough walkies for that day, so get got in the car to go home. Of course, all the way home we laughed at what just happened....not at Mickey possibly being hurt or scared, but more at thought of what that must have looked like from afar. It would have been hysterical if someone caught that on video tape. The sight of Mickey running free without a care in the world...yes "Born Free"! And then the 2 of us, yelling, flaling our arms, running and tripping our way across a big grassy field, and then just as we catch up to him, he turns around to run where we had just come from...
Oh, Mickey, Mickey, Mickey....he can be such an angel http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/angel.gif , but he certainly has tested us.
Needless to say, he's NEVER gone for another walkie without his leash...
He'll run full force with all engines burning. Mickey is a big runner. LOVES to run! He'll just run and run, and run. He just loses himself in his running. It's like he zones out. It's only him and the open road...but this wasn't always the way he was...we found this out the hard way...
We always take Mick up to our local high school for walks. They have this big open field, with a path cut out all around the edge. It's about 1 mile to walk the whole thing. Well, when we first took Mick up there, we didn't need to put him on a leash, because he always stayed so close to us. There's nobody up there but us, so we just didn't worry about it. I think he was afraid of everything and looked to us to keep him safe.
It seemed like that all changed one day. We let Mickey start to run, but he didn't stop. We kept calling after him to stop, but he didn't. He was in "selective hearing" mode with his paws over his ears saying, "I hear you talking, but I'm not listening". He certainly wasn't afraid of anything this day!
Well he took off like lightning! He rounded the first corner. We could see him still. We kept calling after him, but to no avail. Once he was getting close to rounding the 2nd corner, we realized just how far ahead of us he was and he STILL WAS NOT STOPPING!!! http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/eek.gif
Well, my husband and I take off running. We ignore the cut-out path and just start running diagonal across the tall grass, just to get to him. We're yelling for him and he just keeps running...."la-dee-dah...I'm in running mode". It seemed like he was singing to himself "Born Free"!
Well, a few seconds after he rounded the 2nd corner, I think something kicked in, and all of a sudden he STOPPED dead in his tracks. All of a sudden, he HEARD that we were calling for him, and it was just then that he realized that WE HADN'T BEEN RUNNING ALONG WITH HIM that whole time. It's like he completely ZONED OUT. (only him and the open road)
Once he realized that we weren't running right along with him that whole time, he FREAKED out, because he was by himself and he didn't know where we were. He starts looking all over the place for us. He can hear us calling off in the distance, but can't find us. You could see what exactly his mind was processing at the time. It was something...
Meanwhile, we are still trucking across the field at full force, running through waist-high grass, hoping we don't trip over something we can't see or break our ankles.
Since he could hear us, but not SEE us, he decided to run back in the direction of where he just came from. He was going to run back to the last spot he saw us, which was about 3/4 of a mile in the opposite direction of where we currently were. Of course he started doing this just as we were starting to catch up with him. Needless to say, he started running away from us again, and we're running after him. I was so upset, I was out of breath, my legs hurt, and I was crying...it was some sight.
Well, he rounded the first corner, and then the second corner, and was finally getting to the place where we started our walk earlier. At the same time, we turn around and are hauling A** across the field again. At this point I was screaming "Mickey, please just stop!!!"
Once he got to the starting point he waited for a while, and just ran around in circles, listening for us. We started to finally catch up to him. He could see us off in the distance coming towards him, but then it seemed that his fear mode kicked in.
It was almost like he KNEW that he did something wrong. When we started to get close to him, he freaked out again, and started running...but this time into the path of the parking lot...with cars!
I just yelled "Mickey, NOOOOOOO" Oh, goodness, I think it was only God which stopped that dog from running that day. He finally stopped, and let us come up to him. But he was all scared and submissive with his tail tucked. We picked him up. I had tears still in my eyes. None of us could breathe. The only thing that we could manage out of our mouths at the time was "Mickey that was a BAAADDD boy! Please, don't ever do that again."
We decided that we had enough walkies for that day, so get got in the car to go home. Of course, all the way home we laughed at what just happened....not at Mickey possibly being hurt or scared, but more at thought of what that must have looked like from afar. It would have been hysterical if someone caught that on video tape. The sight of Mickey running free without a care in the world...yes "Born Free"! And then the 2 of us, yelling, flaling our arms, running and tripping our way across a big grassy field, and then just as we catch up to him, he turns around to run where we had just come from...
Oh, Mickey, Mickey, Mickey....he can be such an angel http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/angel.gif , but he certainly has tested us.
Needless to say, he's NEVER gone for another walkie without his leash...