Night Run

A few nights ago Jackie and I took the dogs for a walk before going to bed. As we were walking in the dark, because our apartment complex never replaces light bulbs for the flood lights, a cat was hit by the moon light. At that moment Ruby happened to be looking in that direction and reacted. Jerking my arm,causing me to release the leash, Ruby broke away and bolted to the cat. Being that cat's see better at night than dogs, not the best idea. The cat went straight for the wooded area, also completely dark. A black dog heading for the dark woods at night is not my ideal way to conclude my evening.

But there I was, and my choices were: a) Hope Ruby would come back when called, b)Figure she'd find her way home sooner or later and go back inside, c) Run to the edge of the woods and call for Ruby, d) hall ass after her into the woods. I did not recount the choices I had until the morning after, at that moment there was no choice. Hall ass in there after her. I managed to end up with my leg tangled in what I am now finding out was poison ivy, and get clocked in the head with a branch. As I hit the ground when the ivy nabbed my leg, Ruby turned around and saw me. At that point she saw what had happened, came back to me and rolled over looking to be pet.

I went to bed that night debating how different things would have been if I had gone with any other option, and how happy I was I ran after Ruby... and then I woke up.

I reached for my cell phone to turn my alarm off the morning after the night run. The phone was charging when I went to bed, when I grabbed my cell phone it was unplugged. I looked down, and found the charger, it was shredded not so much as to sever one piece from the rest of the charger cord but certainly enough to render my charger useless.

As soon as I move my head in the morning when my alarm goes off, Ruby is up and ready for action. Running over me, anxious for attention and to go outside. I suppressed my erge to be upset at Ruby and took the dogs outside. Usually Ruby goes within the first 20 seconds we're outside, the perfect dog, but this time she didn't go. Odd, but I didn't mind that there was nothing to pick up that morning. As I started getting ready for work my routine took me to my dresser, around to the other side of the bed, upon turning the corner I figured out why Ruby didn't go outside. She had purged her body of everything she would have done outside.

Naturally I started wondering how worth it running into the woods for Ruby actually was. I grabbed Ruby to show it to her and tell her "no" as any potty training book tells you to do. Ruby got scared, and like bread crumbs to find her way back she peed every 2 feet as I dragged Ruby to her mess. A new level of questioning my decision had started sinking in as I cleaned up all the mess.

Week 3 Highlights

One day this week while we were walking Ruby Jackie and I caught a glimpse of how fast Ruby actually is. As we were rounding the corner of our apartment building we passed shrubbery that was housing some birds. Most took off high, avoiding all confrontation. But there were a few that thought it best to tempt Ruby. Not smart. Before I realized birds where flying low out of the bush, one disappeared. The only evidence a bird had flown out of the bush was a wing hanging out the right side of Ruby's mouth. After it registered with Ruby that she had actually caught something, she opened her mouth and the bird flew away. Since that day I have not seen any birds in the shrubbery. Though Ruby has become much more eager to try and catch other wildlife. She will try to run up trees to get to squirrels, but has yet to get even close to anything other than the bird that got away.

This weekend we took Ruby to a local dog park. Ruby was my shadow, I spent most of my time there trying to talk away from Ruby, as she slithered behind me, staying close. There was a brief glimpse of a happy dog. Ruby found another dog she wasn't scared of and started trying to play, stamping her front feet while wagging her tail and sticking high in the air. The other dog started chasing Ruby. Ruby ran, tried to shake the other dog off by changing direction quickly to the left, and the right. Within a minute, Ruby had every other dog in the park chasing after her. Finally I got the chance to see how fast Ruby could run, she opened up and bolted across the park at top speed, the other dogs were dragging behind as Ruby stepped on the gas and flew away from the pack. Once she saw how many dogs were chasing her, she stopped running, found me, and went back to my shadow. But for a brief moment I had the opportunity to see Ruby the way she truly is, free of fear.