Free at Last

The Further Adventures of Delilah the Wonder Dog

I’ve always thought of off-leash dogs as nightmares to be avoided. Delilah taught me they can also be a source of joy.

Near the end of our walks, we head for the far corner of our neighborhood park, where a baseball field almost always sits empty.

I scan the place to be sure we’ve got it to ourselves before unclipping her lead.

She’s learned it’s her time to sniff the grass, look for squirrels and investigate the many gopher holes plaguing left field. She also knows that if she finds a good stick or the remnants of a tennis ball, a game of fetch is in the cards.

For Delilah, a stick in flight is a wonderous thing, to be pursued with reckless abandon, captured and brought back as fast as her legs will carry her.

Her only purpose in life is to do it again and again and again, until she arrives back breathing so hard she flops down in the wet grass in a mixture of exhaustion and delight.

We didn’t get here by accident. We practice her recall every day, with as many distractions as we can.

Not every dog, or every owner, is up to this. Delilah herself got jumped by a loose dog on one of our evening walks, setting off a four-hour after-hours trip to the vet. (She’s fine.)

And OK, yes, technically, we’re probably breaking the law. But there’s something special about giving Delilah the freedom to truly be herself and watching her enjoy it.