Charley and I were finishing up our walk and we were waiting at a stop signal for what seemed like forever when a little older gal came up to me and started laughing. ”I didn’t see you there, all I saw was the dog standing on the corner waiting for the light and I thought ‘what a smart little thing’.” Then she said to me, “That made my day.” 

That made my day as well.

I laughed too and enjoyed the compliment. That is one thing that I have been trying to do with Charley. When we get to a corner that has a stop light I will try to stand and wait until we have the walking solid white man in sight that signals us it is all good to go. I really don’t know if it has sunk in with her but I do know that she does stop at every corner and wait for my approval to carry on.

I don’t really want to test out to see if she really understands the situation but there was a time when Charley did escape from me at the University and ended up finding her way home in one piece. Talk about a stressful experience. On both sides. I remember running around the area asking if anybody had seen a dog. This one poor couple that were walking their dog told me they hadn’t seen one and I remember I said loudly and hysterically, “Well, what do you call that at the end of that leash you’re holding?!?!” Embarrassing afterwards, and I hope that they forgave me for my outburst.

When I’d gotten home after an exhaustive search the front door person at my building said when he saw me, “She’s upstairs waiting at your door.”

What a relief that was. It has not happened since. I keep a tight leash on her now. I don’t think she waited at every stop light to cross the road when that happened, but I’d like to pretend and think she did. At least she made it in one piece. Things would’ve been a lot different had she not.

I do think it is important to wait at crosswalks and for the light to change with your dog even though at times it seems silly. I am not always patient I will admit, but I do try not to jay-walk with my dog because I think it sends a message to her that says its ok to run around and in front of cars but dodge them daringly. Plus it’s against the law to jay-walk! We can’t always rely on people seeing us when we cross the street but we have a better chance for both of us if we do it in the crosswalk at the correct time.