I decided to take Rockwell with me when I went over to the college today. I was only going for a meeting with one other person and we were just planning to chat about the course, so I figured I could divide my attention between her and the dog and give Rockwell a little bit of it. We met in a combo lunch/mail/photocopy/printer type room and initially, Rockwell tried to sniff under the chairs and wouldn’t sit down. Whenever a person came into the room to do something like make a copy, I asked them to please ignore the dog. They were all very obliging and in turn Rockwell, although not ignoring them, because he wasn’t getting any attention, laid down! He would look up when someone came in and wag his tail if they made eye contact. But if they didn’t come over, he would lie down again. Before, I thought it seemed rude to make the dog and the people ignore each other but now I see it is much easier on all of us.

When we left the building, we headed for the Loblaws. I took his jacket off so he could have a pee and sure enough, he had to do just that. Then we walked on the icy snow toward the parking lot and I slipped and fell. I wasn’t hurt but I let go of the leash and Rockwell decided this was now a game of keep away. There is a very busy road near where I fell in the field and I was having a heart attack wondering if Rockwell would decide to run toward the road for a change. I kept calling him and he would run back to me but then keep out of my reach. He ran back and forth like this for a minute or more and I was starting to despair when I saw a young man walking toward us on the slippery path. I asked him if he would call Rockwell to him, thinking the dog would love the opportunity to jump on someone new. Just as he agreed, Rockwell spotted him and ran toward him but I was right in his path and caught him. By then, my hands were shaking from the stress of worrying if Rockwell would run into the road and I felt a mess. I thanked the young man and he walked on and I sat on the ice with Rockwell and just petted him.

I have analyzed the situation now and I was holding the leash in the shortened configuration which just gives you one long loop. When I fell, the leash just slipped out of my hand. If I had had the leash in the long configuration, there would have been a small loop at my end which I slip around my wrist. Even if I had fallen then, the leash would have likely stayed looped around my wrist instead of falling away. So while I do plan to use the short leash for the balanced lead walking (less pulling that way), I will have to remember to use the small loop if there is a chance I could let go of it with my fingers. (I should make a drawing but I am too pooped.)