York meets Sally

We moved to York! In a whirl wind experience we found ourselves packing up home and lifestyle in the North West and moving back to our glorious home county of Yorkshire when a new job landed on Tony's lap just before the end of the summer term in the splendid city of York. Its been a little crazy - having to find somewhere to live, trying and failing to sell our house in a dead housing market and finding a new school for Joseph to go to as he starts his GCSE years. Nerves have jangled along the way but its all good stuff and there have already been lots of encouragements. We look forward to what this new chapter in our lives will bring. And now to Sally.

We were a little concerned about how our new surroundings would turn out for our dear dog as we have been spoiled for countryside in the North West and now we find ourselves in a city - a beautiful city - but still a city! We needn't have worried. Within a week of landing in York we had been blown away by the variety of walks, countryside and dog friendly areas at our door step, phew!!

For a couple of weeks it even seemed that Sally had become a more tame creature as she readily came back after being thrown a ball. I naively thought that maybe by the lack of distractions (woolly and feathery things) in our new environment we may have banished our perpetual problem of a run away pooch - dream on!!

We have a beautiful recreation area close to a park and ride bus station just a few minutes away from our new rented home which is frequented by all the local dog owners. Its actually quite an attractive place as it has wooded walk ways, a little pond area with seating and is connected to a nature reserve area, grazing land and to the picturesque riverside walk which runs through the city and beyond. Its there that I have met some of the friendly residents of the neighbourhood and have already made some good friends. Sally loves this place and pulls on her lead with all her might whenever we walk in that direction. It was all going so well - too well really - I should have seen it coming!!

I had noticed that Sally had become more confident, had got to know every section of the park and that it was taking her longer and longer to come back to me. I should have seen the signs, I should have heard the warning bell, I should have, I should have! One morning I had been waiting for Sally to return to the bench from where I had been throwing her a ball when I noticed her fly into the wooded area. It took her around 10 minutes to return before she ran off again. I was just happy in the knowledge that where-ever she was I knew it was definitely somewhere in the fenced park area. That's when I just happened to look over my shoulder and glance beyond the fenced area into the bus station. Guess what I saw - you guessed it. It was Sally just about to catch a bus into York!!

I jumped from the bench and shouted for her to stop. Like a child caught in the headlights she stopped stock still then decided her course of action. She chose not to catch the bus after all but to bolt for the car park andaimed to take cover in a thicket in there. A game of hide and seek took place before I cornered her - once again and took the scoundrel back in hand.

Maybe we still have work to do. The lesson I learned that day: You can take the dog out of the wilderness but you can't take the wilderness wonderlust out of the dog like Sally!