How to be an Irresponsible Dog Owner.. oops!

I awoke this morning and the sun was shining and the sky was blue. It was one of those mornings when I was reminded how lucky I am and how much I have to be grateful for and to look forward to… The day was too nice to stay inside so we decided a family trip out to the hills for a walk followed by a tasty pub lunch, was the order of the day. I mean – what could be better on a beautiful sunny autumnal Sunday in October than to take a trip into nearby Derbyshire and enjoy some quality family time…

Another Happy Day creating Happy Memories… and it all started so well….

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And then came the ‘OOPs’ moment….

Our youngest granddaughter hasn’t been well this week and as we got halfway up the hill, she decided she’d ‘had enough’ … tears…

So Nanny and Grandy aka me and hubby, set off with our youngest back down the hill, while the rest of the family continued their ‘climb to the summit’.. determined to ‘reach the peak’.. (well that’s a slight exageration – more like a mound..). To be honest I jumped at the  excuse to walk ‘down’ rather than ‘up’ the hill.. I know – lazy!)

So picture the scene.. Hubby with little one on shoulders and I with Dolly (dog) on lead, ambled along at a relaxing pace, through the fields, with the sheep grazing in the distance, toward the pub, which was waiting temptingly at the bottom of the hill, with a welcome cold beer!

My thoughts were happy…..

“What could be nicer”     “Ahh – how lovely.. how lucky I am…”       “Ahhh – look at Dolly trotting along and enjoying a walk, in this lovely, clean, fresh air, with the sun shining down….”

We came to the end of one field and I opened the gate, to let Bryan through with our youngest granddaughter still up on his shoulders.

All I had to do was to close the gate behind us..

I paused for a moment to survey the idyllic scene – some of my family climbing up the hill to one side and hubby meandering down the hill on the other..

I was lost in the moment, enjoying ‘the now’ and in that beautiful moment, I wasn’t worried when I accidentally dropped Dolly’s lead as I closed the gate..   I mean to say…. How Cute?

 

I bet you’re thinking the same aren’t you?…..

and after 8 years I thought I knew my dog.. Yep no worries…..

wrong, Wrong… WRONG!!!

I hadn’t noticed that in the field we’d just entered, there was a small herd of young cows (or possibly bullocks)… some munching on the green green Derbyshire grass and some enjoying a little afternoon nap…

Unfortunately though and here’s the ‘OOP’s moment, DOLLY DID NOTICE THEM!!! … all 15-20 of them… enjoying the warmth of the sun beating down and not a care in the world at the top end of the field up a steep incline…

(photo courtesy of google images..)

My ‘belief’ in Dolly’s innocent little face and chubby body was about to be turned on it’s head… Yep, it was like that moment in The Gremlins when they ‘eat after midnight’….

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‘Butter Wouldn’t Melt in My Mouth’ Dolly was suddenly transformed into a ferocious and very fast monster and was off like an out of control racehorse, with her ‘cute pink lead’ flying freely behind her.

“BRYANnnnnnnn Quick… DOLLLLLLYYYYYYYY…” I shouted VERY LOUDLY!!!! Bryan swung back round and horror crossed his face as he saw ‘the monster’ hurtling rapidly across the field. Our youngest was ploncked ungraciously, back from the heady heights (well not really very high) of Hubby’s shoulders, down to the cow pat filled field…

and then Bryan transformed ….

into a SUPERHERO…. he was running like a whippet (well not quite a whippet – he blamed his heavy boots..), across that field, chasing after the pink lead attached to a ‘monster’….

Too Late.. Too Slow (not for the want of trying) and then….

Cows alerted by the commotion in the field, jumped to their feet and started to ‘stampede’ away from the monster.. but even the cows were no match for monster Dolly.. she was in amongst them ‘nipping’ at their poor little toes… and the Cows were ‘kicking back’ in retaliation – YIKES..

Have you ever experienced a situation where everything suddenly goes into slow motion? – This was that moment, I had visions of Dolly being kicked, hurled through the air and then squashed flat (tricky with her little barrel belly – although she does look a bit slimmer after her exercise today…)!

But my Superhero continued to ‘fly’ up that hill, arms flailing…… head wobbling……. braving the stampede.. Then a big sigh of relief in that heart stopping moment… PHEW – He managed to grab the end of that cute pink lead… and drag the ‘gnashing monster’ away… Much to her disgust!

I couldn’t help notice that there seemed to be a pale ‘ghost like’ quality to the Superhero’s face as he pulled the monster back down the field….

Post Incident Note for all animal lovers….

Fortunately neither cows, dog nor hubby were injured.. (Well the cows and Bryan’s pride were both a bit hurt, but Dolly continued to ‘strut her stuff’, feeling very proud of herself) and when I looked back up the field, the cows were back to their ‘happy munching’…

I know I shouldn’t have laughed (but I secretly did) and I don’t think I’ll ever dare to admit that I dropped the lead (yes I admit it to you my blogging friends.. I ‘white lied’ and told him she’d yanked herself free)….. YIKES…

So there you have it and I admit it – Today, I became an irresponsible dog owner! City girl meets Countryside.. wasn’t a good combination…

Thank goodness the farmer wasn’t around!

I couldn’t help wish I’d had the foresight to switch on my video camera, to capture the ‘carnage’ (before you report me to the RSPCA, there was no blood…), in that field, for posterity and obviously for my blog (not that I’m blog obsessed or anything..) so I’m sorry, on this occasion, you’re just going to have to use your imagination instead..

But there’s always a silver lining.. My youngest granddaughter was cheered up no end – she thought it all looked very amusing and it put a smile back on her face for the rest of the afternoon….

Anyway – all’s well that ends well!

There was a lovely Sunday Lunch waiting for us when we arrived back in the village of Coombs (Derbyshire) at the Beehive Pub and needless to say I treated Superhero hubby to a pint, to help him recover from the shock!

The morale of the story is…

• You can take the girl out of the City but you can’t take the City out of the Girl

and more importantly….

• NEVER TRUST AN INNOCENT LOOKING DOG!!!

As for Dolly – as you can see, she is still in the bad books and I’m sending her to bed without any tea!!!

 

…well… maybe just a little bit then, who can resist those ‘innocent eyes’ and all that running has tired her out- obviously!!!

Ah well – lunch was lovely!

 

Tip: Nanny’s always carry some crayons and stickers in the boot of the car, even if they do let go of the lead!