Basil Being Bad

Basil did the worst thing today he has ever done. It was actually our fault for giving him too much freedom, but hot damn he made my stomach churn and heart race for a half hour!!

The story goes:
Dave and I took him to the park, which is also across the street from a grocery store, to play in the dog run while one of us shopped. To decide who got to play and who had to shop, we did best six out of eleven rock/paper/scissors, which I just barely lost. Then Dave, who has a hot head about how good of a RPS player he is, decided that he'd give me an extra chance and would flip a coin. I chose heads and it landed on tails, so I was for sure the one doing the grocery chore.

We got to the park to discover a closed dog run (they're re-wood chipping it), but there are all kinds of fenced in grassy patches within the park, far from the cars, so Dave and I agreed it'd be cool to let him run around there while I shopped. Well, it turns out Basil inherited Dave's hot head and on our way back from the store, he pulled so hard that he yanked the leash out of Dave's hand and took off running down the sidewalk. We shouted stop, no, and come, but he was not responsive at all, just kept running. We dropped our bags and bolted after him, and he took a sharp left and ran across the side street we were on to the other sidewalk. Holy shit my heart pumped into my throat!! Luckily, there were no cars so I chased after him, shouting, "NO, STOP!" but he just picked up the pace!

He's sprinting like the speedy hound/terrier he is down the sidewalk, and I'm chasing, shouting for the other people to grab his leash. Dave's running down the middle of the street in case Basil bolts out again, and then we approach the corner of Nassau and Eckford. I'm close to him but not close enough to get the leash, and if he runs any further, he'll run onto busy Nassau where he will inevitably get hit by one of many cars.

Then, he just stops. He stops running and turns around to me with this goofy grin on his face, like we were playing chase and here he is letting me catch him. Dave ran over and we yelled at him, telling him he was a really bad dog. He looked super sad, but after he sat down for a minute, we loved on him and told him he was a good puppy but that he did a very bad thing. Damn, I was totally panicking, like, envisioning a car slamming into him on Nassau! I'm so happy he at least understands to stop at a busy street (we've been working on stopping at streets before crossing), but god, Dave and I were freaking. Especially poor Dave, as he saw his first dog get killed by a car when he was six! Dave was just sprinting with this dazed look on his face, like, going to a happy place, going to a place where dogs don't get hit by cars. It took us a good half hour before we were breathing normally again!

And during that half hour, we analyzed the situation and what contributed to him doing this (he has never pulled away from us before). We definitely gave him too much freedom for a puppy in the park (and in KY!), showing him that he can run around off leash and have us chase him. But he's still a puppy and can't put together to not do that on the sidewalk, so no more off leash time until he is perfect about stopping at the street and not tugging on the leash. Hoo boy, what a fright.

Weirdly, it also made me realize how terrifying the world can be to a parent. This is our dog and we were FREAKED. It's so nuts how the process of adopting a dog is complicated and drawn out, checking references and calling landlords, yet anyone can just have a kid. Even accidentally! People accidentally have KIDS! The responsibility and love that comes along with a dog makes being a parent mind-boggling.

So, all's well that end's well, and Basil is currently a very happy puppy, sitting at my feet and devouring his rawhide. Dave and I are chilled out now, and the lessons have all been learned. Oh puppylove.