One small step…….!

Yesterday started off with a very slightly cooler temperature so I harnessed and leashed Ray and went to our front door. He followed me!

When I opened the door and went outside, Ray glanced back at Carol but followed me onto our front porch! When I stepped off the front porch to go down the steps, Ray swiftly put his rear on the porch floor and was clearly going no further!

After some gentle tugging and lots of coaxing, he stood up and turned towards the front door. As soon as it was opened, he went inside and went straight to Carol.

After a brief discussion, we decided to try again, but this time Carol would also be coaxing him out. He initially hesitated going through the front door again but, with my “C’mon Ray!” and “C’mon buddy!” and Carol’s “Ray…. go! repeated a few times, he followed me outside. We went through the same “performance” to get him across the porch and ultimately onto our driveway. As Ray decided to slowly work his way down the driveway towards the sidewalk (sniffing all the way!), Carol went back inside.

We made it to the sidewalk and then he looked around for Carol! Just at that moment, he heard some laughter from next door and one of the voices he recognized (favorably) immediately. After a lovely facial expression of total indecision, he was off down the sidewalk and up the neighbor’s driveway where he met the couple who live there, their son and his girlfriend, and McKenzie (a Scottie dog who he greets through our back fence periodically)!

He decided that he had to say hello to “the girlfriend”, who he had never met before, and so he was duly treated after which he and McKenzie went through the usual social rituals.

A few moments later, almost as if he suddenly realized that Carol was not around, he headed down the steps from their porch and onto their driveway with me 6ft away, and on the other end of a tight leash! There was no mistake about his intent as he went down the sidewalk; back up our driveway, and up to the front door. Upon opening the front door for him, he went straight inside and found Carol!

The whole exercise was a little less than I would have liked…….. but it was a start! Next time? Who knows!

19 thoughts on “One small step…….!”

    • Over time, Carol would probably be charged with trespassing… and Ray would have demolished many flower beds as it is his habit to go direct to Carol regardless of what is in his way! It is an interesting concept but I would prefer him to be comfortable at home on his own, than for him to expect her to always be on a porch somewhere down the road. Imagine if Carol was not home and he somehow got out?

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  6. LOL Our black Lab called Ambos did the same to me. He never likes to leave the house without me. He is my loyal company and he had twice saved my life. We had this special bond and he has been very, very close with the kids.

    He never leave me alone. Everywhere I go, he will follow. Except for the cellar. He hates cellar and he came down only once when he heard me screaming. It was just the damn spider. But he never go down there, just guarding the stairs and waiting patiently for me.

    For now, he and my 2 1/2 years old son are the one who is always following me around and never really leave. Especially when the others are at school and the duos are always around. LOL

    I can understand Ray very well enough. Cute thang!

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    • It is cute that Ray is so loyal and protective however, it raises some serious issues.
      – He gets minimal exercise if Carol is incapacitated.
      – She cannot leave home without him so very difficult private life.
      – If he ever needed to be left at the vets or at an animal hospital, he would go crazy.
      – He cannot be transported anywhere on his own.
      While I see it as an inconvenience to us, it is in fact a potentially serious problem for him which really has to be addressed.

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