Mrs. Shoo giving me her best fishy face.
Clancy is a special dog. I don’t know if it is a short bus kind of specialness, or a sweet cuddly attention whore kind of special. He’s our dog. We love him no matter what. Sometimes.
Saturday, I was getting the bikes ready to hit the Lost Bridge Trail. Mrs. Shoo was getting the required water bottles and locking the house up. It was a beautiful day and we were both psyched to hit the trail as it was our first official ride of 2008.
“Hey honey, I don’t think we have enough excitement in our lives. Can you make the dogs do something crazy?”
Mrs. Shoo is walking towards me when I hear her yell, “Clancy” as the dog with a mutated greyhound gene runs past at full speed. Nothing unusual as Clancy has gotten out before and it’s a small chore to get him back home. Usually. Today was different, he had the big prize in mind. He wasn’t going back easy.
At first he runs a few houses down, stops to smell a bush and pee on it. I am walking at a quick but medium pace because the minute you start charging after him, he books it. The dog must think it’s a game of chase because his tail is wagging and he’s got that look, ‘You’ll never catch me, suckers!’
As soon as I get within 20 feet he looks back and starts heading towards one of the busiest streets in Springfield, Wabash. Mrs. Shoo is behind me yelling at Clancy to come home, but every word must have antagonized him to run faster and further.
By this time Clancy is on the sidewalk that runs parallel with Wabash. I hop a fence to cut him off. Mrs. Shoo runs the pattern for the interception. As soon as I get close enough, Clancy dashes directly towards Mrs. Shoo. Were both thinking, this is it, we’re going to get the dog home.
Not a chance.
Clancy makes a dash right into oncoming traffic.
I don’t know what Mrs. Shoo was thinking, but I was just in disbelief.
The good Samaritan drivers must have been out Saturday because all four lanes stopped. Mrs. Shoo hi-tails it across the street as Clancy has decided that he’s going to check out the Inter Urban bike trail. Meantime, I am still standing in disbelief. Not only did the dog get across unharmed but Mrs. Shoo is sprinting like there is no tomorrow. I finally snap out of it and make an executive decision to get the car and pick them up.
Mrs. Shoo tells me that Clancy almost got hit by another couple of cars and almost took out a biker. His stopping point. A dog in a backyard. I pick the two up and Mrs. Shoo is happy and pissed at the same time. Her words, “I am happy Clancy didn’t get hit because I would have killed him if he did.”
Yup, he’s special alright.
Taken a few minutes before these feet were in hot pursuit.
I’m glad traffic stopped and everyone got back unharmed.
Um, I gotta ask, what’s the white stuff on top of your head in the second picture? I never noticed that before.
Marie, are you implying grey spot? Actually, it’s just how the sun was hitting my hair. Freaked me out when I first downloaded the photos.
Good to know.
Please inform Mrs. Shoo I am VERY happy I did not have to cover the story of her squished body on Wabash for the 6:00 news.
I am also in disbelief…..how can Clancy AND Mrs. Shoo be frogger experts?
Sounds like a close call. I am glad everyone is safe.
But I guess I just don’t understand the fish face thing…
Yes, Clancy and I are fine…no 6 o’clock news for me. My mother would beat me.
I think Clancy and I just got lucky. There must’ve been dog lovers driving down Wabash at that moment. I got some nasty looks, but then they saw the dog and realized I wasn’t just trying to stop traffic with my stunning good looks.
And the fishy face is just me being weird…I don’t really know why I do it.
Whew! Close call. Thanks for the long account as it was much more of a thrill ride. I hope you smacked his wet little nose and put him in doggy time out!
Clancy was definitely in some serious trouble; although, I think when we spank him, he’s just thinking that we’re petting him really hard. He’s special.