Led by the Leash of Love

My dearest pup Luna has been incorrectly trained by me and it is what it is. Since she's a little baby, I've let her run wild as I walk the neighborhood. I walk at a quiet time, about 10 am, and I put on her leash, but I let her run alongside me, exploring yards, chasing birds, just being a free pup. She LOVES it.

There is nobody around, and if there is, she really isn't interested. She just wants to be FREE. She runs her ass off. She runs until she pants, her tongue wildly wagging as she makes her way from bush to bush, yard to yard, loving life.

After about 8 minutes of freedom, she is totally exhausted. She comes to me and says with her eyes, "Please, take the leash now. I'm wearing myself out, and if you don't take the leash, I'm going to continue to run myself ragged." This is what I hear her say with her eyes.

So I take the leash for a bit and we walk together. She catches her breath and finds her center, gearing up for another tear through the world. When she's ready to go again, I say, "Go!" and she takes off running, never out of my sight, but free as the wind. She is blissed out by the time we get home.

I have trained her this way. It is my fault. Probably the reason is because I lived with a guy in Boone who had two dogs and they were never on leashes. He had TRAINED them to come when he called and stay by his side, however. So, I sort of just let Luna be free. She's now a big mess. But she loves it and so do I.

It struck me yesterday on our walk what a spiritual lesson this whole thing is for us. She comes to me when she needs me to calm her, just like I go to Spirit, prayer and meditation when I need to calm down. But sometimes, I run myself ragged, wild in the wind, with nothing really guiding me but my own urge for freedom. It's nice to know I can always go to Go(o)d when I need to be led by the leash of love.

Here  are two one of my favorites of Luna (the big brown one) and Tiki (tiny black demon).