an adventurous walk

My walk today was a little more adventurous than usual and consisted of me running into traffic and also being told ‘I love you’ by a complete stranger.

My plan this morning was to go to the gym like usual, but for some reason at the last minute I changed my mind and decided to go on a 4 mile walk outside. I left Bella at home because she only makes it at the most about three miles.It was very windy, but cooler and less humid and was a perfect summer morning for a walk.

About 2 ½ miles into my walk, I was on a walking path along a fairly busy road when I noticed this dog running across the road, darting in and out of traffic. It was a young golden retriever (same breed as our dog) with no owner in sight. I knew I had to do something or that poor dog would get hit and there was no way I wanted to witness that!

So, I went out into the road and started stopping traffic and poor little dog came over to me and I grabbed its collar and pulled it back over to the walking path. I was still looking around trying to find its owner but saw no one. Ugh! So I am trying to calm this jumpy dog down while still holding onto its collar and call the phone number listed on its dog tag. No answer, so I leave a message. Ugh! So what am I going to do with this dog whose name on the tag said Josie. I couldn’t just let it go and there was no way I could walk a mile and a half home dragging this dog with just a collar (no leash) back to my home.

Luckily, at this point a man that was out running stopped to see if everything was ok. He held the dog by the collar while I dialed animal control, who said they would send someone right out. The runner guy then left and I am standing there on the walking trail trying to hold on to a dog who at this point is just wanted to be let go and is starting to get a little nippy. My cell phone rings and it is the dog’s owner who sounds frantic! I tell him where Josie and I are, and he says he is about a block away, he would be right there. Within a couple of minutes I see this big man running down the path flailing his arms. He reaches us all out of breath and gives his dog a big hug and then he thanks me over and over and says; ‘I love you, lady.’ :)

Even though my walk was stopped and delayed me about a half hour, I knew that if my dog were to get loose and lost in the middle of traffic, I would want someone to help her. And 6 month old Josie reminded me so much of Bella!