Mulley Musings: Run, Puppy, Run!

For the past couple years, Dave has taken Scout to the park and let her off of her leash so that she can run. She loves to run and is usually pretty good about staying close and listening. When Dave and I both take her to the park, she tends to not listen to Dave but listen to me instead. We all know that I'm the Alpha around this house and Scout's behavior just goes to show.

Scout and Molly loaded up in the car...ready to go

This morning, we decided to take Scout and Molly to the park for the first time. As we approach the open field that we have always allowed Scout to run around in, we let both dogs off of their leashes. Molly took off! She went flying and refused to listen to any commands-from either of us. As Molly took off, Dave told me to stay put and he would get her. He followed her in a walking pace (think bad guy in a scary movie) and Molly continued to run at Mach 4. I called Scout over to me and she came and laid down beside me as I waited for Molly's hopeful return. After a few minutes of waiting, I see Molly flying over a hill so I call her to me. She charged right for me and then continued right past me. I then called her again and she did the same thing. Finally, she came to me and stopped. I snapped the leash right on her and we went off in search of Dave. When we found Dave, he was ready to try it again. I thought we had given it a good try and we would try again later...we did it Dave's way.

He took the girls off of the leashes and then started to walk with them. He was constantly calling Molly back to him but this time she listened pretty well. Dave had to pull out the "Mean Daddy" voice a few times to get her to listen. After a bit of a walk, I called the girls back to me and they charged towards me. Scout usually just runs straight at me, but Molly made things a little more difficult by trying to herd Scout. It was really cute and the girls had a great time! We just need to keep reminding ourselves that Molly is still just 2 years old and I wouldn't have dared let Scout off her leash when she was just 2 so there is hope for us yet.