Mud on My Face...Literally!

(Do not be fooled by his cute silliness...he is a little devil)
I have become the dog owner I never wanted to be....argh! I went for a "nice leisurely walk" with a friend today. My lovely 55lb "puppy" tried to drag me all over the place. Since I have been taking him to the dog park, and trying to get him socialized with other dogs, he has began to be completely out of control.

I am not saying he isn't friendly, he is adorable and friendly to everyone and every dog he meets. He loves to frolic and run, and run and run (did I say run?) with all the other dogs...even the teeny weeny ones. We came across a 2.5lb teacup something or other puppy yesterday. The puppy could barely climb out of the deep, frozen shoe prints in the snow that still lays in the dog park yesterday. Not my cup 'o' tea, but a cute puppy nonetheless. The owner said it would grow to 5lbs as an adult. My cat is 3 times that size...too funny. My puppy played so gently with this tiny pup, so he is good with other dogs but...

...try to get him to come to me when he is out frolicking with his own kind...HA! It just is not happening. He is a social butterfly, flitting from dog to dog to dog. Yesterday I spent much of my time trying to "catch" him...he simply had no interest in me whatsoever. I felt like the kind of dog owner I would be annoyed by. He comes fine at home, but I really need to work on this when we are out.

Today when I was out with my friend he pulled and pulled on the leash. He almost pulled me over a few times. This is not good. How the hell will I manage to keep him beside me when he's 80 or 90lbs...which he will be. There was a boxer 3 months older than him at the park and Skookum at 7 months is bigger than that dog...a lot bigger.

I came home and took him for a walk around the farm, when suddenly the neighbours chow/lab cross showed up on the other side of one of the large drainage ditches. Skookum leapt across the ditch like a deer and took off after the neighbour's dog. Both of them jumped across and even bigger ditch between our properties and were running like antelope all over the neighbour's yard. I kept calling my dog, but it was as though he couldn't hear me. So I began climbing across the ditch and slipped and fell into the muddy, slimy ditch. I climbed out wet angry and covered from head to toe in mud.

Worst part is I recked my brand new glasses (yes this is my second pair in less than 2 months I have had recked) either directly by the dog, or indirectly while chasing the dog. My last pair were $180.00 glasses (which is bad enough). This second pair are graduated lenses and cost me $580.00 and now one of the lenses has two huge scratches across it....GRRRRRR!

Anyways, I climbed out of the ditch, dripping in mud and getting angrier by the second. Finally I was able to corner my dog on the neighbours deck and I began walking home out their driveway. I gave him a bit of a tug and spoke bruskly to him about my irritation. He looked up at me, and, as if to say..."F#$@ you!", he backed out of his collar and ran onto the busy road.

I thought I was going to be sick. I ran after him just in time to stop all the cars going both ways. Thank god no cars were there when he ran onto the road. People waited for me to coax him back to me and I managed to get the collar on again and head back home.

I am still freaked out by him going onto the road, because it is like a small highway this time of day, with cars bypassing the tunnel traffic by racing down our road. I need to take him to obedience lessons ASAP. I would have died if something happened to him. The broken glasses are nothing compared to how important he is to me.

I may not post over the next week as I have company visiting from Toronto (brother and sister-in law)...Hope everyone has a great week.