Barefoot Chase

When I got home from work last night, I hit the kitchen to start prepping for burgers. I'll take grilling outside over cooking indoors any day and the weather gods have been kind enough to bless us with warmer temperatures as of late. As with my last trip to the grill I brought the dog (Macy) outside with me so she could run off some energy. A practice we have been encouraging as of late with the baby coming.

The burgers were sizzling in no time and Macy was taking laps and sniffing up a storm in our backyard. By the time I had administered the first flip Macy was tiring out and hanging by me , the grill and the gate. Crystal soon came outside to join us, we chatted about her day at work while Macy snagged a lick or two on the spatula, a practice we do not encourage. When the burgers were done Crystal went inside to prep the dinning room table and I tossed cheese on the burgers and went to take Macy inside.

A part of the practice of taking Macy to the backyard is doing it sans leash. She grew up in a townhouse with a 6ft by 4ft patch of grass to go out on. So a leash was necessary. Leashing her up continued through her seminal years and is something we still do today. Needless to say we shower her with treats and praise every time she makes it from the backyard to the backdoor without one. She was batting 1000 on taking the three foot ninety degree turn, until last night.

Last night she made it about two feet into the dogleg, when her line of sight was filled by a boy on a bike. He couldn't have been but 9 or 10 years old and presented a perfect target to our 16 lbs beast. Mind you she would never bite anyone, but she would charge towards them to bark a lot. When I caught up to her in the street she played keep away from me with the boy in the middle of us. I kept assuring the child that she meant no harm and thankfully he seemed unphased.

When she lost interest in him she took off down the street with me in tow. Slowing and sprinting as I gave chase on barefoot, having kicked off my shower shoes in the interest of greater speed. We made it about two blocks by the time she took new found interest in a mailbox and I cornered her. I out of breath and she confused about the fuss I was making. When we made it back to the house Crystal was standing in the yard and I could see and smell the cheese on my burgers burning. Jogging past her to the burgers I explained what had happened and in one motion tossed Macy inside and threw open the grill. The burgers were saved, thankfully.

I took off my iPod, which had become tangled in the chase and set it aside, while I went about plating the burgers for the trip inside. We dined on burgers in our living room and glared at a confused 16lbs dog who most likely thought the whole thing was all in fun.

At 1am I went outside and got my iPod, it had been rained on for what I presume was the whole night. It is now resting in a bag of brown rice and I have my fingers crossed that it will turn on again in the near future.