My dog didn't come with brakes
My puppy in a full-grown dog’s body has a factory defect, but I don’t think there will be any manufacturer’s recall.
Curly, my 8-month old border collie/queensland healer, did not come with brakes, or at the very least, he hasn’t learned how to use them.
Curly is already a large dog, probably bigger than my last dog, a border collie/German shorthaired mix. I would say, based on how hard he runs into me, Curly is approaching 70-plus pounds.
But, he is still a puppy.
No matter if he is running outside, or is just in the house and walking toward me, he always seems to stop about a foot past where he should. In other words, he rams right into you.
It is actually very funny because he has not learned, being a puppy, that slowing down a bit is much safer and easier on the body. He loves to run at you full speed and if you are not paying attention, he will crash into you. If you are paying attention and move at just the right time, he goes flying past you and usually slips and slides to a halt about four feet away.
He runs around the yard the same way. I don’t know how many times I have become concerned that he may have injured himself because he slid into the back of the garage, or into a bush or tree, but he gets up and keeps on going.
My wife gets to enjoy Curly every day and she makes it a point to go out and play with him. We find the more we get him to run during the day, the better he is when we let him in the house in the evening. But, Curly can’t sit still no matter what we do. We like to count the few seconds he is actually still, which I don’t think we have gotten to more than a about five or six seconds.
Like all puppies, he wants to play and that usually involves leaning up against my wife or me and constantly trying to nip at our feet to get us to respond.
A new tool we have found is the newspaper. If we give him a piece of the paper, he will sit there and tear off strips. It is hilarious to listen to him tear off a strip, then another and another.
Curly loves it when I work in the yard and he loves my loud tools. He is most fond of the leaf blower. When I plug that in, he jumps in front of it and barks at the end of the blower. He jumps, runs around the yard, then comes back for more. This time of year, as I blow leaves, he loves to try to catch them in midair. It is difficult for me to not have to stop while laughing.
Dogs have their own distinct way to charm us and we all have different tolerance levels with our pets. We are being very patient with Curly and trying not to compare him to our last dog, Norton. We tend to remember Norton more as a 10-year-old dog rather than as a puppy and while I am pretty sure Norton came with brakes, he could also be rambunctious and run around the yard at 90 miles and hour.
For now, it is dodge and brace with Curly. Hopefully, soon, he will slow down a bit and find he does have brakes and will use them.
Rick Elkins is editor of the Porterville Recorder. He can be reached at 784-5000, ext. 1040, or by e-mail at relkins@portervillerecorder.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.
