Invisible String

Have you read the book The Invisible String by Patrice Karst and Joanne Lew-Vriethoff?  I used to read it to my daughter, but it would have been more useful to have been able to read it to the dog who has always been a little too attached to me.  That attachment made Charly a fantastic off-leash dog, however – especially for running.  She would always come back to me.  

Charly was a cagy escape artist when she was very young…especially when we lived right behind a bagel bakery and store.  She would sniff around the backyard, and then when I was preoccupied with my baby, she’d ooze her body through a gap between the fence and gate, and cross the alleyway.  Mostly, she would eat the discarded bagels around the garbage outside the bagel store, but a couple times she went inside – it’s so hot with the oven baking for half a day that the back door was rarely closed.  Eventually, she’d walk around the block and scratch at the front door, sit on the front mat, and wait to be let in.

 

Now, as an old dog without the bagel store for a neighbour, when Charly escapes the house, it’s not to chase squirrels or prowl the neighbourhood.  She just comes to find me, watch me, and eventually fall asleep nearby.  This “Find Mom” game starts every morning when I come downstairs and she wakes up.  She follows me, lays down near me, falls asleep.  Awake!  “Find Mom” begins again.  The extra challenge is her deafness – she has to use her eyes and nose, and I think sometimes the vibration of my walking as she hurries around the house to locate me.  “There she is,” she sighs.  Snuggle.  Snore.  Repeat.  And, repeat.  And, repeat.