Navigator Ray!

Once Ray started settling in to his new life here, and as I was already retired at that time, he and I used to go an various walks which slowly expanded his knowledge of our area. It was anticipated that this would get him more comfortable when out which would hopefully dictate a more relaxed Ray.

There were walks where I dictated our route, and there were times when I let Ray intervene occasionally. It was always interesting trying to rationalize why he would take a particular turn, but the biggest surprise was once when I let him dictate the complete walk!

The first time that I gave him total freedom to choose his route started off without any surprises in that he stayed on the roads that he knew from previous walks. After around 10 minutes, he made a sharp turn and started on a route that baffled me completely. Taking a shortcut across a school playing field; going around the rear of an apartment building, and then crossing a parking lot made it all the more mystifying… until he reached a main road and immediately turned and followed the sidewalk.

It was not long before I realized that he was homing in on the Oakville & Milton Humane Society (OMHS), where he lived before we adopted him. We knew that he had friends there, but did not realize how strong those relationships were. They were strong enough to take a 30 minute walk to see them again!

Below is Ray’s perspective on that day, and is copied from the book about him “Who Said I was up for Adoption?” Click on book cover over in the right column for more information. All profits from sales will be directed to OMHS.

17 thoughts on “Navigator Ray!”

    • colinandray's avatar

      … and they were old human pals! In our early days of considering adopting, our big concern with Ray was his apparent indifference to everybody and his aggressive posturing. It was not until we saw him react to a specific person there that we realized he could express affection… and express it really well! 🙂

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