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  1. Gosh I cannot tell you how this resonated with me. I feel that Bailey my trailhound was definitely given to me to teach me patience. It was SO easy to take it as a personal slant & slip into anger or annoyance, but it would be like expecting a friend who was afraid of heights to happily take a jaunt up the Eiffle Tower and then being cheesed off when they refused!! Trailhounds have that drive that is purely their instinct…it’s not personal, so I,as a dog owner, learnt that there were great places to walk & much harder places to walk – woods being one of them especially when wet or damp. Being ‘present’ takes practise & she’s taught me to do that over and over again. It is so lovely to read your thoughts. Thank you for them. I think from the way you write you would love a book by Eckhart Tolle called Guardians of Being. It is so wonderful x

    1. Thankyou Sue for your comments – what a clear picture you give comparing it to a friend with heights! I am definitely of the opinion that its me thats causing him to run off – probably that’s what all trailhound owners (and owners of other hounds) know! I’ve read some of Eckhart Tolle’s books, but not that one – thankyou 🙂

  2. I laughed with empathy reading this. My dog does the same thing, has the same “glazed ‘away with the fairies’ look” you described. And it’s in the body language too, more upright, not quite relaxed. I’ve had those same moments where we are off leash and next thing I know she’s too far and I start to panic. I’ll self-talk to calm down my nerves but I’m convinced she’s going to leave and be gone forever, off chasing the squirrels to her own demise. Then I envision a bad storm with my dog terrified in the woods and alone all because she couldn’t stay close to me. It’s a rollercoaster of blaming her and then taking full blame myself. What happened to our reliable recall? Doesn’t she love me enough to want to be around me? Doesn’t she know that I’m her safe home-base and that the big bad world will get her? I’ve broken down crying as well, wiping tears from my eyes as I stoically carry her 50lbs out of the park for being too out of control to manage. I feel unloved by her but it’s really about all my experiences being a middle child and from previous relationships. I set up these expectations that she will be by my side by choice because I’m awesome and she knows I love her to bits but she’s a dog, in the end she’s a pure dog (mostly hound). I’m still searching for the answers! It’s a relief to know I’m not alone in my experiences and my reactions.

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