Sally Went AWOL again!

Had a great time this morning. After talking about it for the past 6 months I finally got my act together, met up with a friend and took both our dogs out for a walk. Sally and Rosie were so excited to see each other we stood well back for the first couple of minutes and let them bound around like giddy kippers.

Up into the woods (and I mean up) then into some fields to be greeted by a magnificent view of the rising fells. It did the soul good just being up there. One thing I've become much more aware of since taking Sally out on walks is the changing of the seasons. Today I noticed some vibrant purple heathers, green leaves turning all shades of gold and plenty of ripening blackberries and elderberries. Such a rich season. I love it.

On the way back a very familiar thing happened. After chatting with my friend I looked up to see that Sally was ... nowhere. First of all I was a little worried, after all she'd never been here before, maybe she had got lost. I retraced my steps and did plenty of hollering. After around 5 minutes I spotted her milling around, completely ignoring my calls! She had done it again. Gone AWOL about 5 minutes before she would have to have the lead put on. She does this all the time around the walks in our village but I thought that was because she knows the routes like the back of her paw. I now realise that she must calculatedly take notice of every route and work out a place to go hide on her return. I really think that she is that clever. Once I realised she was playing a game with me and that I had no way of catching her I headed away from the woods with my friend and her beautiful and loyal Golden Retriever as if we were continuing home. Once Sally knows I'm not hanging around she comes running. We continued chatting and headed for the far end of the next field. When we looked around we noticed that Rosie had disappeared too! This was ridiculous. Where on Earth could she have gone? Then we heard a bark, it was unmistakeably a Sally bark. We turned to face the woods where the sound was coming from. The next thing that happened was a beautiful sight. First Sally came bounding out of the woods followed by Rosie bounding behind her. Well well, Rosie had gone back to retrieve Sally. What a good dog! Just like something from a Lassie film. Bless. Warms the cockles of your heart!