The Day of Dog Walking Disasters…

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Yesterday started like any other day. Everyone was in a good mood, the weekend was here! My daughter decided to have a bit of a meltdown about clothing, demanding I do her laundry and that she had absolutely nothing to wear (I’m sure anyone with kids has been there).

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The Clothing Crisis

I had already been up for a while and I like to take the dogs out around 9:30-10:00 for their morning walk. My daughter was continuing to give me an extremely hard time about her supposed clothing crisis but wanted to come with us as well since she loves to walk and run with the dogs.

Grace needed to go out. My backyard is currently a mud pit after my failed attempt to grow grass last year, and the turf has not yet been put in (I was obsessed with grass last year but after everything I tried after I saw what it looked like when the snow melted I gave in and called in the turf installers…). With the yard in its current state, Grace has gone on backyard strike and had not gone to the bathroom since supper the night before.

Benson, Grace and I headed out the door, leaving my daughter in bed. Within two houses, Grace emptied a lake out of her bladder and had already had two massive number two’s. I got to the top of the street and got a call that my daughter was ready to come…back home we went to grab her.

The Kid Decides To Join Us

She put on what she claimed were her “least dirty” pants that she claimed she had worn no less than five times already (she had only been here for four days from her dad’s so I’m not quite sure how her math was working). She had on a clean sweatshirt. I told her that I was not sure why she was so insistent on clean clothes since it is muddy outside and she would probably get dirty anyways. Little did I know…

We set off, everyone finally happy. I love to explore our neighbourhood and there are still many streets that we have not yet ventured down. Our original plan had been to go over to the ravine but we decided against it with how wet everything was.

We were walking down the sidewalk towards an unexplored street. The ravine was on our right, and there is a guard rail beside the sidewalk. That is when it happened. The first time anyways…

SQUIRREL!!!

Benson saw a squirrel! His brain turns to mush when he sees a squirrel. I was walking behind him and my daughter with Grace. He HOPPED straight sideways over the barrier into the ravine. I don’t know if you have ever seen such a big dog hop like that with all fours off the ground, it never ceases to amaze me when he does it.

At this point, my daughter had been pulled up to the guard rail, Benson was on the other side of it on full alert as the unsuspecting squirrel stood about ten feet away.

Now, my eleven year old daughter’s 70lbs is no match for Benson’s 115lbs of pure muscle. I usually walk him because at a year old he tends to forget himself and act like a tiny little puppy. On this day, she insisted that she would be able to handle him…

After a moment of stillness, he lunged after the squirrel. The guard rail is about the height of my daughter’s knees. She stood no chance. She was flipped right over the guardrail, landing on her belly on the other side in the mud. Then he started dragging her through the mud.

More Dirty Clothes

I stood there in shock for a moment. Was this really happening?!? Finally as they moved towards the hill I snapped out of it and yelled for Benson to stop, jumped the guard rail and grabbed his leash to stop him. I realized my daughter had his leash wrapped around her forearm, so dropping it would not have been possible.

As she laid there in the mud I thought it pretty funny that she was so bothered by finding clean clothes for the walk! She had mud all up the front of her, up her arms and into her hair! I had to laugh, I couldn’t help it, it looked like something out of a cartoon the way she flipped over.

Benson tried to pull me towards another squirrel on the way home, but he was short leashed for the rest of THAT walk! And we never did make it up that new street either…

We headed home, and Hailey (now walking the much calmer Grace) skipped ahead of us. At a certain point my big boy decided he HAD to catch up! He dragged me right down the street, barely managing to keep upright.

Cleaning Up

Relief was what we felt when we got back through our front door. We had a good laugh about it and the clean clothes situation in particular! My daughter went and scrubbed off and changed.

Fast forward to the afternoon. I like to take the dogs to the beach in the afternoon, and have been trying to get the dogs down there as much as I can since the off leash area will soon be restricted to the dog park again instead of the entire beach. Also, Benny boy is going for the big snip in a few days which will take him out of commission for a couple weeks…

I had told my mom the story of the morning walk. She wished me an uneventful afternoon walk…I think that she cursed it right then and there…

The Afternoon Walk

The walk to the beach went without a hitch. The walk along the beach was pretty perfect too. I let my guard down. I was wrong to do so…

We decided to walk back through the park to get home. We ran into a lady who had dog treats and wanted to give Grace and Benson some. I have run into her before, and said yes that was fine.

The dogs were excited and took the treats. The woman walked with us and talked with us for a bit (socially distanced of course). Then it happened. Again.

More squirrels!

Benson…oh sweet boy Benson. He spotted a (you guessed it) squirrel! The lady who had been walking with us for a bit threw a bunch of treats for the squirrels and one in particular caught the big guy’s eye. He went to the end of his leash. Time stood still…

Then all of a sudden he lunged. He was dragging me across the mud. I was leaning back, holding on for dear life as he pulled me across the muddy grass. I thought I had won as we came to a standstill. But I should have known better.

He lunged again, and my feet went right out from under me. I realized what was happening and surrendered to it. I landed on my back, with my left cheek taking the brunt of the fall. Even before I hit the ground I was laughing. I stayed on the ground for a minute. Me landing there seemed to halt Benson’s squirrel brain. I picked myself up, nothing hurt but my dignity.

The lady who had been walking with us (and FED THE SQUIRRELS NEAR US) looked at me with disgust. He is really just a big puppy though, and prone to setbacks here and there. Today was a day full of them though.

Making Our Way Back Home

We slowly made our way back home. My daughter and myself were laughing like two clowns about each of us getting taken down by the Mighty Benson that day. I went upstairs after getting home and took a look in the mirror and had to laugh. There was mud and lots of leaves in my freshly washed hair.

It has been raining too hard to venture out so far today, but the rain seems to have stopped now and the sun is attempting to come out. Grace still has not gone to the bathroom and it is mid-afternoon (I joke that she must be part camel). As I think about the walk looming ahead of us I can’t help but wonder what today will bring…