ellenoutloud's Blog

I finally got around to loading “Rolling in the Deep” onto my iPod. I thought Adele’s version would give Rex and I just the mid-walk boost we needed. Unfortunately, Rex wasn’t feeling very boostable this morning.

About five minutes into our walk he started this weird, skittish, lurch/pull/stop/cower dance. Over and over. Just when I was ready to rock out to “We could have had it all…” he was having none of it.

There wasn’t another dog.

No people up and about.

No rabbits/armadillos/cats that I could see.

We’d walk, he’d stop, crouch, look behind us. He was started to spook me! I suspect fear is contagious.

We turned the corner and as we passed under one of the streetlights, he threw on the brakes big time. That's when I figured it out. At that specific time of morning, for some reason, he and I were casting really tall shadows. Looming, ominous, Tyrannosaurus Rex shadows. Thus the intermittent crazed behavior. They’d come, go, and come back, utterly at random.

Of course, my figuring it out didn’t do a lot to soothe puppy’s nerves. It didn’t matter that there was nothing to be afraid of. He’d have to figure that out for himself.

As we turned into the drive, the spring returned to his step. Rex knows at the end of the walk we get to drink from the hose and then get a treat. I turned on the water and his tail wagged and he was a happy boy again. Shadows gone. Boogers at bay.

So often the things that scare us the most aren’t even real. But it is nice to know even the imaginary ones will go away once we get our minds off them.

Drink some water, get a treat, soldier on!

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