On The Trail

Fifteen months ago, Chase came home with me.

Friday, July 28, 2023

The puppy, tiny and cute, was very tired. His rescuer had promised he’d grow into a small adult dog, as she’d seen his parents. Several months later, she obviously had been lying about the puppy’s potential size. I accepted having been a sucker and swallowing the bait.

Chase began to grow, becoming a 50+ pound, easily identifiable Rottweiler/Shepherd (and whatever else?) mix. Soon, he also became a source of great stress. First, he was a capable escape artist; he quickly climbed and cleared 6-ft.-plus fencing. Moreover, he became aggressive toward my older, weaker male dogs.

Those were severe strikes against attempting to rehome Chase. Nobody (including me) wants an escape artist or an overly aggressive dog. On the other hand, Chase had redeeming qualities. He was very smart and quickly could grasp what I wanted (although he could ignore much). Also, I was becoming “his person,” and he didn’t leave my side when loose. Another hesitation about rehoming my too-smart, too-big dog is that, having only lived with women, he’s a little suspicious of men.

I elected to try keeping Chase. My housemate helped, and we worked long and hard to adjust fence heights and prevent escapes. We accustomed Chase to wearing an e-collar to gain instant communication with him. In the months he’s worn that collar, I’ve had to beep it maybe three times.

Finally, I began taking Chase to hike in public spaces, wanting him better socialized and adjusted to meeting unexpected dogs and humans. He is better, too. For example, the day before yesterday, we hiked with Rachelle, our friend, and Ryder, her young Aussie. Chase and Ryder had never met before and played happily nonstop.

Those experiences are upping my courage. I planned to accustom Chase to running on trails with my horse yesterday and took him, my dog-savvy mare, Sunni, and my trail-experienced Border Collie, Miles, to a trail. Miles might help Chase learn to run safely with a horse by staying appropriately distant.

To my great surprise and delight, there were no problems at all! Both dogs tracked dependably and safely with Sunni for miles. Running with a horse seemed an activity Chase had been doing since the day he was born.

Dear Friends: My boy is maturing; I like him and might dump his e-collar. Diana