As Waylon nears his first birthday, I am feeling a little nostalgic.
Having two dogs has certainly been a great decision for our family especially since Waylon and Willie have such different temperaments. Willie is an over-eager pleaser and Waylon is well, most often known as grumpy dog. He goes at his own pace and hardly ever can be coaxed into anything he hasn’t already decided he is interested in…except walks.
When Willie and I first started taking him on our walking/running adventures, we had to revise our plan because after about half a mile, Waylon would get tired and literally sit in the middle of the path and not move. It cramped our style!
Waylon has come to love our runs and walks as much as Willie does, but he makes the experience interesting. He wants to be in charge and he really isn’t bothered if he has to drag his human and brother behind him. He is particularly hard to handle when he approaches the fence of another dog.
I am not sure how it happens, but he simultaneously runs towards the fence and away from the fence whining and whimpering the whole time. There is no way to tell if he was let off the leash if he would try to attack the other dog, lick the other dog, play with the other dog or simply run away. It’s as if he paralyzed in the indecision of which is the best option dragging his human and brother along on his path of indecision.
It made me think of this today as we walked because I saw all the signs…he ducked his head…raised his tail and began a slow creep. I racked my brain trying to figure out if there was a dog in one of the houses that we were passing, but there wasn’t. I followed Waylon’s eyes only to burst out laughing,
He was slowly tracking and beginning to growl at the wind chimes hanging from the tree we were passing. It’s easy to forget that the world I have experienced in my 28 years is full of just these moments of confronting something new and having to try to process how to approach this new thing.
For Waylon, the sound of the wind chimes sounded like maybe another dog’s collar or a dog’s leash or something else threatening. He decided to be cautious and watchful just in case.
I wonder if I do the same when I approach something new.