I No Longer have a Garden Companion

I No Longer have a Garden Companion

Whenever I want to take my dog, Maggie, outside, I tell her where we are going.  Going for a walk, going around the yard, going to the woods, going to the creek and going to the garden.  I figured she would learn the words--my dog Pollie did.  I’ll never forget the day she learned “Woods.”  She was heading towards the creek, and I told her “Woods.”  She turned the other direction, barked with joy and headed towards the woods trail.  It wasn’t that she liked the woods anymore than the creek.  I think she was just happy she understood what I was saying.

Maggie is definitely not as smart as Pollie was.  I have been telling her for years where I wanted to go, and she only seemed to grasp it a little.  I think a lot of time, she was watching my body language to figure it out.  (Which is actually pretty smart.)

Now that I am retired, we are spending more time together.  I give her a long walk nearly every day.  She loves them.  Sometimes I take her on an additional short walk, later in the day if the weather isn’t too warm.  She loves that too.  She enjoys going around the yard.  I wasn’t so sure if she liked going to the garden.

Since my yard isn’t fenced and she loves to play in traffic, I have to keep her on a leash.  When I go up to the garden, I attach her leash to a tree.  It is in the shade, and the leash is long.  She would sit and wait for me to finish my gardening.

I think that she didn’t mind it so much when I was working since she spent so much time inside the house when I was gone.  I think she was happy to be outside.  Now that she is out so much more, I guess she changed her mind--or maybe she just learned the word.

Last week, I told her I was going to the garden, grabbed her leash and she just looked at me.  I asked her if she wanted to come with me, and she walked away.

This has happened time after time.  Once, she did decide to come with me.  I made a big deal about how happy I was and made sure I was only in the garden about 10 minutes.  The next time, just a few hours later, she didn’t want to go with me.

Sigh, I lost my garden companion.  She isn’t the first.  Pollie didn’t have to stay on a leash.  She would go out with me, but after a few minutes, she would go and sit by the house.  Our previous dog, Brucie, ended up not wanting to garden with us, too.  I guess it just isn’t a dog thing.