Pride and prejudice

I spent yesterday afternoon walking the clifftops at Coral Bay with my friend, Ina and Alfie, Molly and Jake of course. It all started well: weather was lovely; we both had a few hours to walk , chill and chat – and the dogs travelled well in the car to the meeting point. Then, life being what it is, things took a turn for the worse…..

Ina rang just as I arrived to say she’d be approx 20 mins late. No big problem in the scheme of things – except I’d just got Alfie, Molly and Jake out of the car. Alfie is fine off his lead and runs along happily, obeying any command you give to him. Molly has only two speeds: stand still or run away as fast as you can, so she stays on the lead. Jake, well, Jake weighs 45 kilos, is as tall as I am when he stands up and he is a puppy, so he does puppy things, magnified by his size!

So, I’m standing at the meeting point, a popular place in coral Bay to walk dogs and along come some dogs, then some more behind them then two lovely huskies, who’ve escaped from their owners and want to play.

“Play” is Jakes favourite thing – so he tried to oblige by jumping high then bouncing low then making his funny growl/chatty noises – and every dog in sight began to bark. Molly looked terrified (dogs looking like their owners was never so true!). Alfie, is Alfie: chilled and totally nonplussed by the chaos.

My not very practical footwear, (flat but trendy) stood no chance when Jake decided he wanted to be with the other dogs and took he and I for a scramble to meet them . Poor Molly was nearly strangled coz I couldnt’ let go of her – and Alfie just stayed put and laughed at us all.

The owners of the other dogs looked like they’d like to run away – Jake running towards you at speed is a scary sight at the best of times: when hes transporting his crazy person , other tiny dog and every other dog in the vicinity, he is terrifying…….

Ina arrived and in her gorgeous calm way asked if she could help…….She was last seen going south on the end of jakes lead. Alfie, Molly and I did a runner to the sounds of other dog owners tutting about how badly behaved jake was and how good their dogs were. Personally, I was proud of Jake: he behaved like a happy, carefree and totally innocent spirit: not at all like the scared, badly treated lump he was 10 weeks ago when he came to live with us. If he and Ina every return, I’ll give him a huge hug and let him know how good he is!

We are all walking somewhere else today!