So yesterday we were at the park and Petal did something cute and geriatric. Petal is a super sticker - the mantra for walking with Petal is if I want to know her location I just have to look down. This is a Catch 22 because if I look down I shift my body and that shift of weight tells Petal I'm turning, so to stay right behind me she shadows me, thus we can (and have) spun in a circle; she is scooting round while I try to look down and find her. In a word; yes, we look stupid doing this.
This reliablility of Petal's has led me to almost completely forget she's there. Danger. Because occassionally she catches a scent and she gets left behind. Danger. She has poor eyesight now so she can't see me very well. I seem to have some sort of a proximity alert tho and when I'm too far away it goes off and I stop to look around for her. Usually she's only about 30 feet away and I wait for her to notice I'm waiting and she trots to catch up.
So this brings me to yesterday. I was wearing tan colored pants, black shoes and a black coat. My dog park clothes. I had stopped to look at the view over the river, it's peaceful and pretty and was half thinking I'd go down there on our next walk for a little variety. I continued walking; Ridgeback one: check. Ridgeback two: check. After about 20 feet my proximity alert went off. I looked down; no Petal. Looked the other way; no Petal. Spun in a circle. "Petal? Petal?" There were miscellaneous dogs roaming, no Petal. A woman I'd passed a few minutes ago waved and pointed at her feet and there was Petal. Religiously following her. I called and called and called and eventually Petal looked round ... took a few more steps to follow the woman, sniffed her leg and finally realized her mistake. The woman laughed it off and pointed at her own clothes then at me. We were wearing the exact same colors and Petal, after having a little sniff at some grass, saw a pair of familiar legs and resumed shadow duty.
Who knows, maybe she was trying to tell me something.
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