"How do you think Caesar would react if you were attacked?" asked my sister one afternoon as we sat drinking orange and chatting about a plethora of unrelated things. Allowing one aimless topic to run seamlessly into another.
If I'm honest, it isn't the first time that I've allowed my mind to ponder the subject. Caesar himself being 22kg and built like a buffalo would be a deterrent I had thought for almost any thug who might come my way. But was I sure he would protect me? I'd like to think he would but if I was being truly honest with myself - I think he'd probably just cry.
Equally, with burglars, I was sure that Caesar would frighten them before they realised what a noisy yet harmless lump of dog he is. He may scare them by being overly boisterously friendly I thought. Or by just walking into the room while they were there.
It was odd that a few days later, I noticed a post on a Facebook forum from a lady who had come in to find her back gate and door open. She assumed she must have been burgled but that they had fled when seeing the dogs as nothing had been taken. I nodded in agreement. I should hope that this would be the case should we ever find ourselves in this horrible situation.
A wolf in sheeps clothing? - probably the other way round!
I felt weird driving home at lunch time. And annoyed with myself for leaving a file that I needed on my coffee table. Cursing as I pulled up to the house, I strutted up the front drive praying that the file was where I thought it was so that I could get back to work quickly enough to get a bit of lunch. I flung open the front door and dashed in quickly to find the house in complete silence. 'Good' I thought, assured that I hadn't been annoying the neighbours with nuisance barking. After pausing for a second to think, I hurried into the front room. The file wasn't on the coffee table. Underneath? I thought desperately and began unpacking boxes and pulling things out from beneath. I banged and clattered as folders, notebooks and box files fell to the ground. Finally, I saw the file and yanked it out. I stopped to look at it. Silence.
The house felt eerie. Usually, I'm followed around everywhere by a ginger shadow. But there I was...alone. Sitting surrounded by boxes and paper that I'd rifled through. And where was Caesar? Who knows!
Was he knocking out the Zzzzz s?
About fifteen minutes after I'd come, I jumped in the car and drove back to work. As I mindlessly steered down familiar streets, I began to worry. What if Caesar was trapped somewhere? What if he was injured or ill? Not wanting to disturb him, I'd left him alone wherever he was. I hadn't even peeped around the door to see where he was.
I'm pleased to say that, at the end of the day, he was there with his wagging tail waiting for me. But, where he was that lunch time, I can only guess...
Dear Mr. Flexi lead inventor,
I salute you and your outstanding contribution to dog owners everywhere. I cannot deny the feelings of jealousy that consume me when I think of how much money you must have made from your, let's face it, relatively simple, yet extraordinarily effective idea. Why, without your 8m Flexi Maxi, I would be doomed to being dragged around on a mere 2 meter piece of lead; hardly enough to get a good wrench going. Yes, its all thanks to you that I can fly forward a good few metres every time Caesar reaches the limit of his 8m of freedom. I'll admit, there is still room for improvement and who can forget when Caesar's second hand Felxi lead shattered into a million pieces in the park after a particularly bad pull. I don't think Damien (who was walking Caesar at the time) will, nor will the people whom he went careering towards! And yes, some people will complain about getting 'washing lined' or otherwise entangled in one of these leads, myself included. However, for dog owners who cannot trust their dog not to pursue anything that moves, there is no better contraption than your 8 metres of extendable wire even if it does get stuck sometimes. So, thank you Mr Flexi lead inventor, whoever you are, for bringing me peace of mind, security and a bit of an achey shoulder.
Yours sincerely,
Owner of a 8 metre Flexi lead and a very badly behaved dog
Bracing for impact!
Note: I am not advocating nor advertising Flexi leads. And, those who wish to use, should do so with caution, care and awareness of their limitations and the potential hazards linked with using one. As the post acknowledges, somewhat ironically, and I hoped lightheartedly, there are drawbacks to using this type of lead. If you, like me, choose to use a Flexi lead, I would not advocate using a it in a busy place and definitely not by a road. If in doubt, seek advice from a qualified dog trainer first.
I'm the queen of procrastinating. If I know that I have to do something, I find every other important thing to do before I address the important task. Yesterday, I had lots of work to do so naturally I; updated my blog, called my parents, visited my parents, went to the supermarket, visited my grandparents and finally arrived home with two trees for the planters which I then intended to plant. This is when I got a text message asking if I wanted to go out tomorrow. I did. So I thought to myself 'Come on Sian, if you want to go out tomorrow, you really must get some work done.' 'OK. Now what needs to be done?' I checked my blog stats, my emails, my social network. These were not things that needed to be done. "Shall we take the dogs for a walk?" It was now eight o'clock and, since sitting down to 'get things done' at ten in the morning, I had done none of my work. However, after yesterday's success, I was keen to show Damien how well behaved Caesar could be. I was going to take him off the lead on the beach. It was bound to be fairly quiet at this time of night and I, if a dog did appear, at least we could be confident he wasn't going to hurt it, at least not purposefully.
Unfortunately, there were more people on the beach than I had anticipated and I walked Caesar for a while on his lead. Eventually, I found a stretch of deserted beach and hastily unclipped him. The sky was darkening and the sand filled with shadowy shapes. Is that a dog or a piece of flotsam? Did I just see something moving?
It was hard to make out the shapes on the beach.
After a while, I suggested we turned around. Time was moving on and the beach was getting darker. Soon it would be hard to find our way back to the car. In the distance there were two shapes. They appeared to belong to a couple of teenagers who we had passed earlier. They were playing on the sand. Caesar was impeccably behaved and trotted only a few metres away before returning for a treat. "Good boy!" I'd say in my comedy voice handing him a smelly piece of meat. These treats stunk and I was pretty sure they weren't good for him, but, at the end of the day, he responds to them because he loves them and he knows when I've got one because it stinks. "I wonder how fast he can run..." Damien mused as Caesar came haring back to us for treats.
Caesar, where are you going?
A little further down the beach, Caesar's ears pricked up. He could see something that interested him. I looked around but there was nothing apart from the teenagers running back and forth. I assumed he had mistaken a nearby piece of tree for another animal and carried on walking. The next moment, Damien's question had been answered and Caesar took off at a sprint towards the running teenagers. Panic stricken, and remembering the time that he took me down on the same stretch of sand by lunging at my legs, I bellowed for him to come back but he just kept running. Luckily, the two shapes seemed to know what to do, they stopped running and began to walk towards Caesar, perhaps offering to bring him back. The instant that they stopped, he was no longer insterested, he turned on his heel and galloped back towards me and Damien, the thrill of the chase was gone. My heart returned to normal pace after a few minutes and I immediately clipped Caesar's lead to him. "You silly dog!"
Not what you want to see running towards you at full speed!
I couldn't believe, when we had seen the light at the end of the tunnel with one problem, we immediately come across another. Is there no end to his antics?
Does your dog chase? Have you or your dog ever been chased? What would your reaction be to seeing a dog running after you? Let me know in the comments section.
Making new friends is never easy. This is particularly true if you are a 23kg Staffy crossbreed who lacks social awareness. Luckily, a year ago Caesar and I found two great friends, following a rather eventful hour of attempting to do agility. Amazingly, for once Caesar's irritating screeching had caught the right person's attention. Emma and her dog Tango found us after the session and Emma offered to help me to socialise the noisy dog. We've never looked back since.
Caesar and Tango on one of their first walks together. It took Caesar 3 walks to stop barking and jumping towards Tango.
Until Emma moved around an hour away from here, we had walked almost weekly but over the past months it had been difficult with holidays and Fly Ball season in full swing for Emma and Tango. So, Emma suggested we visited her in her new house one night after work and, reluctantly, I agreed. It wasn't that I didn't want to visit Emma and I really looked forward to seeing her new house, my worry was that, now that she had moved in with her partner, there were four dogs living under their roof. Caesar struggles to manage one dog. I expressed my concerns to Emma who tried to calm them with promises of long walks and crates and treats. I tried to feel better but I couldn't help but worry. What if Caesar did something to one of her partner's dogs? 'Hi, my name is Sian and that's my dog Caesar, the one that is mauling your pet...'
When I pulled up outside Emma's house, an hour after setting off, I already felt stressed. I don't love driving at the best of times and after my recent breakdown meltdown, I didn't feel particularly confident. "Give me the lead," she said. "You're stressed and Caesar will feel the tension." Seeing me stall for a second, she repeated calmly; "It's fine. Give me the lead." I didn't feel fine. I felt like saying; 'Nice to see you Emma, lovely house but I'm off home now,' however, I'd come this far so I steadied my hand and passed the olive green lead to my friend. I would trust Emma to the end of the earth with Caesar. She knows him inside out and back to front. Perhaps, in hindsight, she knew more about him than I did. The person I didn't trust, was myself. If Caesar did something, I would freeze, I knew it. I liked to be in control, that was things didn't happen and I didn't have to react to them. "I'll let Tango in first," Emma was saying, getting Tango from the car, "Caesar can follow him in." Tango was exhausted, he'd been at 'daycare' all day where he has plenty of time to swim and play but comes home and wants to relax. Tonight, he would have no such joy as his boisterous Staffy friend wanted nothing more than to play. As soon as Caesar saw Tango his tail started to wag and he let out a few token barks. As we entered the house, and to my complete mortification, Emma glanced over her shoulder at me and said "I'm going to drop the lead now." I didn't think this was a good idea and said as much. Emma looked at me reassuringly, "it's fine." she said, "he'll be fine. And if he's not, we will pick the lead back up." Caesar bounced into the front room, three of the four dogs were there, including Tango, who was certainly not in the mood for his antics. Tonight, I would find out the truth about Caesar's reaction to dogs.
Tango was in no mood for Caesar's antics after a day of swimming and playing.
Jumping, barking and playing, Caesar was having a whale of a time. I stood, hands on hips, shaking my head in disbelief. Emma was smiling too. He sniffing and jumping on all of the dogs. Yes, he was boiserous and, at times, silly, but the reason behind his noises was confirmed; he wanted to play. All of this time, all of this crazy behaviour and the bottom line was that he only wanted to play. Unfortunately, the other dogs didn't and, at times did have to tell him this quite firmly. Caesar didn't appear to understand that they didn't want to play with him so pushed them to the limit at times but when he eventually did get the point, he backed away barking and howling confused by their reaction. I was amazed to see that Emma and her partner were more concerned that their dogs hurting Caesar. "You're joking aren't you?" I laughed. I let out a sigh that I'd been holding in for 18 months. There was nothing malicious about Caesar at all.
After only half an hour at Emma's house, Caesar (left) goes for a walk with four other dogs!
Fifteen minutes after we'd first entered the house, Caesar was in the garden with four other dogs. I watched in amazement as he found his feet with them. "He just wants to play," Emma told me, confirming my thoughts. I nodded. The walk that followed was the best we've ever had. Emma lives near a forest that is rarely used and suggested we allow Caesar off for a run, now we were certain that he was only being friendly. "OK." I agreed, a little more enthusiastically. Caesar ran around in the forest and surrounding fields for almost an hour and a half. He found a new friend; Zac, who possibly didn't like being chased as much as Caesar thought he did. Caesar liked him so much that he would not let him out of his sight, everywhere Zac went, Caesar followed over enthusiastically. He also found time to follow Pebbles and Phoenix, paying the least attention to his old friend Tango. I felt sad about this but concluded that, after a full day of swimming and playing, Tango was probably glad that his over-enthusiastic friend had turned his focus onto someone else for a change.
That can't be Caesar! Is it?
After our ninety minute walk, we sat and enjoyed a pizza while chatting about our success. Zac even began to lick Caesar in a show of affection, though he didn't like it when Caesar tried to sniff him back. It was ten o'clock before I knew it and, with an ongoing feeling of elation at our success, I popped Caesar in the car and, thanking Emma, set off for home. Caesar was silent for the whole trip and only woke up when we pulled up outside the familiar townhouse that we call 'home'. Making new friends is tiring work!
