Furry, Wild, and Free

Leia chasing ducks

Nothing can quite describe the joy I felt this weekend after letting Leia off her leash for the first time. As summer approaches, I've found myself bringing Leia on more weekend long adventures. Two weekends ago, we went on a camping trip in Cloudland Canyon. I couldn't quite convince myself that it would be okay to let her off the leash... even though she howled and cried every time I left her to go to the bathroom or stepped more than 10 feet away from her. There was this dreadful thought in the back of my mind that she'd take off after a squirrel or something and I'd never see her again. Then, once I found myself warming up to the idea of taking her off the leash that weekend, she got out of her harness during a battle with her buddy Marvin and bolted through the woods. I screeched her name in a panic that my worst fear would come true. However, she came back and I just put her back in her harness terrified that she wouldn't come back the next time with whatever weird reasoning was going on in my head that day.

After that long weekend of holding onto her leash, I managed to convince myself that I didn't want to do that ever again. So, when it came time to go on a little trip to Valdosta this past weekend, I was going to ask my mom to watch her so I just didn't have to worry about her and her leash. Well, my mom chose the same weekend to go to Savannah and actually asked me to watch her dogs before I even had a chance to ask about Leia. My only option was to suck it up and take her with me or stay home and I was not missing out on my first opportunity to wake board at the Valdosta Wake Compound over the most perfect weekend of weather thus far.

So, when we arrived at the compound with Leia and Marvin, Marvin was released from his leash to go greet 2 more dogs while I held Leia's leash with the usual death grip as she looked to me with that "Why can't I go?" look. It took about 10 minutes for 3 other dog owners to convince me that it was the perfect spot to let her run free and she wouldn't go anywhere. When I released her, she bolted... she bolted FAST. Then the most amazing thing happened, she sprinted right back to me and jumped at me with a wagging tail and that doggy smile just before she galloped off to catch up with her new buddies. I stayed nervous for about an hour, had to call her back about 3 times as she started exploring with another dog, but overall, she was perfect. She ran her little heart out for 2 days straight and seemed happier than ever chasing ducks and leading the pack of dogs. I feel bad that I didn't give her enough credit for her loyalty but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Luckily, it all worked out pretty perfectly!