While walking home from classes today, I realized something. I miss sledding. As odd as that might sound, it’s true. The days when I was just a kid and the only thing I had to worry about was whether or not I could out-sled my brother.
Now that I’m old(er), it seems like the simple things I did as a child no longer happen. I told myself I would sled sometime soon. Only one issue with that, though. If you haven’t read my previous post, then you might not have known that Western New York has been having a warm winter. Long story short, I can’t sled as I don’t have snow. Now, I know I could make snow or travel elsewhere, but that requires more effort than I’m willing to put in. Thus, I shall wait and, from the looks of it, I might have to wait a while, too.
Seeing as I haven’t gone sledding in what seems like forever and I already told you the sledding story about the mouse in my pants, I’m going to share another sledding story. Only, this one is far more adorable.
If you’ve ever seen Balto, you know it starts with the main human character – Rosy – getting a sled and musher’s hat. Well, when I was around that age, I wanted to be a sled dog musher too. So, for Christmas, I received a similar set of gifts from my parents. I got a large sled, the dog-to-sled harnessing equipment, and a real “musher” hat. As you could guess, I was in just as much bliss as Rosy. Only, unlike Rosy, my sled dog wasn’t very excited about the new gifts. In fact, she hated them.
But, being the stubborn little kid that I was, I rounded my dog up and brought her out to the hill I mentioned in My Sledding Adventure’s Twist. At first, she was overjoyed to be roaming free and wild. Then, I pulled out the harness and gear. Her brown eyes just looked at me saying, “Are you crazy?”
Apparently I was, as before I knew it, I had her all hooked in. Eager to try my mushing skills out, I pointed forward and yelled, “Mush!”
…
“Mush!”
…
“Uhhh… go?”
…
Meet with a frozen dog, I stepped out of my sled and walked to the front where my dog was standing. Now, before you think I have a lazy dog, I should point out that she’s a Yellow Lab named Sara. So, mushing isn’t really in her nature. She’s a bird dog, not a sled-puller.
I tried to get her to pull the sled even without me in it and, well, she still just sat there. She sat there for hours just staring at us until we unhooked her. Even bribing her with food didn’t work. Heck, she didn’t even care that I was petting the cat (she really liked to play with the cat). Nothing worked. Sara just wouldn’t move her butt!
In the end, there was a lesson to be learned. We learned that if we didn’t want our dog running a muck, we just had to hook her to the sled. Sara learned a lesson as well. When the sled did come out, she headed for the high hills and the trees in the woods.
Wavikz 