my first day with gracie

04Mar10

Gracie busting up the party during a walk

If I didn’t know when I got her how much of an adventure taking care of Gracie would be, I learned very quickly.

The day after I brought her home, I didn’t have to work until the afternoon, so I spent the morning with Gracie.  She was still keeping a safe distance from me and I felt bad leaving her at home all day on her first full day with me.

At about 10 a.m., I took her out to go to the bathroom.

We were out in the small field beside my building and I was waiting for Gracie to do her business when a large, brown boxer-looking dog came bounding over from another building without a leash.

Gracie is very social, so I wasn’t really worried. They did the customary “Hello” sniffing, when Gracie suddenly got spooked.

When she gets spooked, she jumps backward on the leash. Three backward hops later, the collar slipped over her skinny neck and she was free. I was left standing with an empty leash and collar.

About this time, the owner of the other dog had come over.

“Aw, she just wants to run,” he said. True, but he doesn’t know Gracie. And, for that matter, neither did I.

At first, she just ran around the area beside the building, occasionally zooming by me but never getting close enough for me to grab her. Suddenly, she darted off to the other side of the building and into the parking lot.

By this time, the man had corralled his dog and headed back to his apartment. Thanks for the help, bud.

I learned from having a dog that regularly escaped growing up that you can’t chase them, it just gets the dog excited. So I walk calmly around the building, keeping her in sight.

Then she shot to the main road and started heading toward the exit of the complex. At this point, my out-of-shape rear end was in a full sprint just trying to keep her in sight. Right across from my apartment complex is a retirement home. After that, you hit a major shopping center. Not the ideal place to have a dog running around.

By the time I got out to the entrance of the apartment complex, I had lost sight of her, and I was starting to panic.

I came around a bend in the road and I saw a white streak down at the next intersection, right near the Best Buy store and just yards from a busy four-lane road.

A few minutes later, I saw a white streak out of the corner of my eye to my left. She was running toward a large field right behind the retirement home.

A woman was out in the field with her dog and Gracie, as always, wanted to go say “Hi.” She saw me across the field and I tried to enlist her help.

“If you can grab her in any way, I would really appreciate it,” I yelled. I know Gracie is a slippery animal, but I have to say she didn’t put in much of an effort.

I figured that if we stayed around the other dog for a while, she would eventually calm down so that I could grab her.

No such luck. After a few minutes of toying with the dog, she shot behind some townhomes on the other side of the field.

I charged after her, but I didn’t see her. Behind the apartments are woods. Two deer bounded through the trees, but no white dog was to be seen.

At this point I’m starting to freak out. She’s microchipped, but I haven’t had a chance to register it yet. She has no collar, so no one would know who to call. It’s my first day with my very own dog and I’d already lost her. I though I was a terrible pet owner.

Courtney was coming over that morning to check on the puppy on her way back to Chapel Hill. I called her, almost in hysterics, and told her where I was.

I walked back up to the field so that it’s easier for Courtney to find me. I had nearly given up and was thinking about what I would put on her “Lost Dog” poster. As I was standing on the field, I happened to look at the row of townhouses to my right.

Behind a bush, I saw a flash of white.

I walked around and there’s Gracie, staring at a random door.

I called her name and she came running over. She half juked me, like she was planning on continuing her adventure. Then she turned and walked up to me so I could put her collar back on.

About that time, Courtney was coming across the field with her family’s dog, a corgi-mix, on a leash. In my haste to chase the dog, I left the leash back by my apartment.

I can imagine what we looked like walking back. I was in sweat pants, Sperrys and a hoodie, looking completely disheveled, with a corgi-mix in my arms. Courtney was walking Gracie on the leash right beside me.

As we were walking down a hill, Gracie broke free again, almost pulling Courtney down and making her drop the leash. Luckily Gracie was a little slow and I reacted quickly, stepping on the leash.

I have never been more relieved to get back to my apartment. Gracie slept the rest of the morning.

Since that first time, Gracie has managed to get out several times, but I have come to realize that she doesn’t ever want to go that far away, and what she really wants me to do is chase her and play. So now when she gets out, I walk back to the apartment and leave the door open.

Soon enough, she’ll come back in. I wish I’d known that earlier.

Next week: “crate wars.”

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