Rescued by Peter Zheutlin

Author:Peter Zheutlin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-10-03T04:00:00+00:00

Jason Bertrand with Sugar Mama

CHAPTER SEVEN

Keeping Things in Perspective—the Canine Way

The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself, too.

—SAMUEL BUTLER

IN ALBIE’S VERY FIRST DAYS WITH US, I took him to a nearby dog park a few times. Not a tree in sight, the barren, chain-link enclosure baked in the July sun. There was no place to sit and we were almost always there alone. We’ve been to other dog parks since, some quite nice, but I quickly developed an aversion to them. Every one was a poop-infested minefield, because not everyone is responsible, and the dynamics were too problematic. (For an amusing and insightful look at the interpersonal and intercanine dynamics of dog parks I recommend Matthew Gilbert’s 2014 book Off the Leash: A Year at the Dog Park.)

In those early days Albie never displayed aggression or aversion to other dogs, but as that changed and his interactions with other dogs became more unpredictable (get a group of twenty dogs in an enclosed space, and the interactions, both canine and human, are going to be unpredictable) dog parks quickly fell out of favor. In the winter months, when it was otherwise closed, we headed to a golf course just a five-minute walk from our house that was open to walkers, cross-country skiers, and dogs, but there were fewer of them than at your typical dog park and there was far more room to run.

It was there, and in the woods where we walked in better weather, that I got to see and take great pleasure in the pure, uncomplicated joy that swept over Albie when he was free to run full-tilt, bound into snowdrifts, and scatter ducks on frozen ponds. Ironically, when he was a stray in Central Louisiana he was free to run, too, but without a home and people to care for him it must have been a daunting and frightening experience. Now the open spaces that were once the place where he struggled to survive were the place where he thrived. He was able to indulge his wild instincts secure in the knowledge that when he’d exhausted himself we’d walk back together to food, a warm house, and a soft bed.

Watching a dog take great joy in the simplest of things—a ball, a stick, a chase, or a snowdrift—can make you envious and get you wondering why human happiness is rarely so uncomplicated. Albie’s needs were simple. Food, love, and exercise were all he needed to sustain him and make him happy. When I tossed a tennis ball for him, his world became the tennis ball. When he found a stick he liked, he carried it proudly like it was the most valuable thing in the world. When winter came and he was able, for the first time, to frolic in snow, his joy seemed as pure as the snow itself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.