It’s no secret that I love my dog. Besides being cute, fluffy, and adorable, he also makes a great running buddy. He has a LOT of energy, which translates into a lot of natural running talent. He has enough energy to help pull me up some of those hills, gets along well with other dogs and people, and is not that interested in wildlife. That last one is surprisingly important when running. Otherwise how would he handle the geese that think they own the Charles?
A daily occurrence
However, Samson can be a bit of a scaredy cat sometimes. Bikes, strollers, skateboards… Okay, basically anything on wheels makes him nervous. The funniest one, though, is that he is scared of bridges. Not the big ones that cars can go across, but the smaller ones that you can see through to the water below. We first noticed this a few years ago when we took him for a walk across a wooden bridge. He started walking really low to the ground like he was stalking something. It took us a little while to realize that the bridge was the problem. I can kind of understand the confusion. How do you tell a dog that they’re not going to fall through?
Today the weirdest thing happened. I did a new loop that I hadn’t run with Samson before. He was doing great and running along very happily. There’s this one spot right before going under the Longfellow bridge that is grated and you can see through to the water below. I’ve run across it plenty of times and never really thought twice about it. All of a sudden I found myself hurdling/tripping over Samson. He had stopped dead in his tracks and was apparently scared of the grate.
No matter how much I tried to sweet talk and coax him forward he would not budge an inch. Even using treats to try and make him walk across it didn’t help. He was just glued to the ground. I really didn’t want to run the 5 miles back the other way, so I ended up carrying my 70-pound labradoodle across the grate. Luckily, the grated section was only about 15 feet, so it wasn’t that long. However, I’m sure I looked absolutely ridiculous. It’s a good thing no runners were going by, but there were plenty of cars that saw us. I wonder if they thought I was dognapping him or something. Nope, just helping my scaredy dog out.
The Goofball
Do you like to run with your dog? Is your dog scared of anything? Bridges? What’s the funniest thing your dog has ever done?
Joy Runner 
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Ha, silly pooch! Watch out for those geese. Geese can be mean!
Thanks, yes I’ll do my best to stay clear of them. I’ve heard that they have some good tempers!
Oh the bridge superstitions! Watson and Tinker will cross them, but crawling on their bellies…
That’s so cute! haha, well at least they’ll cross them. Sam just halted right in his tracks.
That is precious – how does that go – dog is mans’ best……Sampson is saying Laurel is dogs’ best………love ya Aunt Pat Uncle Mark
Right, Samson is definitely my best friend! That’s for sure, haha. Love you both!