Leading Astray

I once had a very doggy friend who was extolling the virtues of retractable leads, ‘Wonderful invention’ she yapped, ‘wish I could use it on the kids – solve a lot of problems…’  Over the years I have at times heartily yearned to use one for the boys, from the toddler tantrums in the supermarket to the present willful and pointed disagreements over whether to have a haircut.  So it was with a great deal of confidence that I acquired one for Muttley from a lovely little pet shop in North Camp, a village not far from us, where I was advised on which retractable lead to buy (I had thought that it was just a matter of selecting a colour…but oh no…)

Armed with lead, and very excited pup, and a bag full of treats, we set off on our first adventure to the local park.  Now those of you who have dogs know that anyone else with a dog will stop and talk to you.  Combine that with a naturally enthusiastic puppy who has been pretty much housebound for most of its life, and you end up talking to quite a few people. 

Stop, start, heel, slow…we were doing well, until a woman approached with six dogs cavorting around her heels.  Only one was on a lead and he was wearing a muzzle.  Now I’m not sure why, but I am always wary of dogs wearing a muzzle – ridiculous, because actually if they have any issues it is normally solved by the muzzle.  Muttley on the other hand had never seen anything like it…Dashing up to him, with me vainly trying to find the stop button on the lead, we careered into both woman and muzzled dog, which with one whimper charged off in the opposite direction… ‘Nice dog, how old is he/she?’ panted the woman, ‘5 months, and it’s a boy’ I replied red faced.  Several pleasantries later and we parted company.

Next stop,canal.  Water.  Now this was an unknown. Muttley looked at it, his head cocked to one side as a duck sailed regally into view.  With one leap Muttley launched himself after the quacking bird and into the canal, luckily pulled up short by the lead so that only his legs were submerged.  Back on shore, we continued with stop, heel and slow, meeting a husky and his owner along the way (‘Nice dog, how old’, ‘5 months’) who ended up giving me the name of a butcher who made particularly fine pork and stilton sausages…and we eventually ended up in the doggy park.  This is a field allocated to dogs where they can run freely.  Of course I had no intention of letting Muttley off the lead, but there were a number of dogs running, playing and barking together which is too much of a temptation for any pup. 

A little Yorkshire terrier, on a retractable lead, came to join us, his owner wearing that slightly embarrassed look of a man obliged to walk his wife’s toy dog.  Muttley took one leap at the Yorkie and splatted him face down on the ground.  In no time at all the dogs were cavorting together, the retractable leads intertwining both around the dogs and the owners.  In vain we tried a polite stepping over the increasingly tangling mothers knitting, but at this point Muttleys legs were well and truly entangled with the Yorkies, and I was suspiciously tied up with his owner.  Trying to make light of it I bleated ‘I don’t normally get this close to someone on a first meeting’, ‘Yes quite’ said the man, his eyes looking from side to side in desperation as if he wished the ground would swallow him up.  Luckily at that point some very jolly ladies (‘Ah cute… How old?’'5 months') came to our assistance, and soon dogs and owners were separated. 

I watched, mortified, as the man and his dog broke into a hobbling run away from us. Muttley looked up panting.  Life was fun…