Friday, January 09, 2004
Dog Momentarily in Flight at 60 Miles an Hour
As I write this, I am sitting at a friend's house in San Miguel. We finally made it.
The trip here was almost completely uneventful. We brought Lucy along since we didn't her to be lonely. Wait wait wait. Back up. Let me start again.
Two weeks ago we had two dogs. Pepsi was a cross between a labrador and doberman. About a year ago we got Lucy, a mix of maltese and French poodle. Pepsi was recently stolen, so now we just have Lucy. All clear now?
Anyway, this was Lucy's first real car ride. Whereas Pepsi loved to go for rides in the car so she could stick her head out the window and feel the breeze in her face, we discovered today that Lucy is completely the opposite. Before the halfway point she threw up, and spent the majority of the trip walking all over everybody and shaking uncontrollaby becauses she just wouldn't settle down. We opened the window, thinking she might like some fresh air. Unlike Pepsi, she wasn't a big fan of sticking her face out into the open air. She just kinda of stared outside and her head would follow the motion of the cars that drove by in the opposite direction. We stopped to get a bite to eat and then resumed our trip. Once again, Lucy was not having fun.
This is where things got interesting. My dad was in the passenger seat up front and Mr. Preston (the friends I'm currently with) was driving. My brother James was on the left side of the back seat, I was in the middle, and Andrew W. was on the right. Lucy still couldn't sit still, and once again my brother put down the left window so maybe she would at least get distracted and sit still for a while. Lucy took a few steps towards the window and suddenly was gone. I can only think of two possible reasons for this:
1) She decided that the car was sitting still and the world outside was moving. Feeling that the rest of us were too boring to entertain her, she decided to join the rest of the world in all its fun.
2) She thought the ground was only a few inches below the window and not moving (and yes, technically it really wasn't moving, but bear with me here). Having a sudden attack of claustrophobia, she had to get out.
Whatever the reason, she decided to jump out the window. She was about halfway out when my brother suddenly realized, "Hey. This doesn't look normal. Maybe I should do something." He managed to grab her right hind leg before she sailed off into space, and eventually, asphalt. Someone in the car made this huge gasp (it was probably me) and Uncle Preston hit the breaks. Meanwhile, Lucy was dangling a few feet above the road scratching at the side of the car. Whether she was trying to get in or out of the car I don't know. Thankfully, James didn't drop her and pulled her back in before anything other surprising things could happen.
Lucy didn't seem to mind at all. She never cried out during the entire thing. Once she was back inside she laid down and went to sleep. Now, why didn't we think of dangling her out the window before?
However, I can't stop thinking about the one instant when she was leaping out the window. For one split second she was in midair going about sixty miles an hour. Now I can claim my dog can fly (or at least has suicidal thoughts). I hope the rest of my time in San Miguel is at least half that...er...interesting.
The trip here was almost completely uneventful. We brought Lucy along since we didn't her to be lonely. Wait wait wait. Back up. Let me start again.
Two weeks ago we had two dogs. Pepsi was a cross between a labrador and doberman. About a year ago we got Lucy, a mix of maltese and French poodle. Pepsi was recently stolen, so now we just have Lucy. All clear now?
Anyway, this was Lucy's first real car ride. Whereas Pepsi loved to go for rides in the car so she could stick her head out the window and feel the breeze in her face, we discovered today that Lucy is completely the opposite. Before the halfway point she threw up, and spent the majority of the trip walking all over everybody and shaking uncontrollaby becauses she just wouldn't settle down. We opened the window, thinking she might like some fresh air. Unlike Pepsi, she wasn't a big fan of sticking her face out into the open air. She just kinda of stared outside and her head would follow the motion of the cars that drove by in the opposite direction. We stopped to get a bite to eat and then resumed our trip. Once again, Lucy was not having fun.
This is where things got interesting. My dad was in the passenger seat up front and Mr. Preston (the friends I'm currently with) was driving. My brother James was on the left side of the back seat, I was in the middle, and Andrew W. was on the right. Lucy still couldn't sit still, and once again my brother put down the left window so maybe she would at least get distracted and sit still for a while. Lucy took a few steps towards the window and suddenly was gone. I can only think of two possible reasons for this:
1) She decided that the car was sitting still and the world outside was moving. Feeling that the rest of us were too boring to entertain her, she decided to join the rest of the world in all its fun.
2) She thought the ground was only a few inches below the window and not moving (and yes, technically it really wasn't moving, but bear with me here). Having a sudden attack of claustrophobia, she had to get out.
Whatever the reason, she decided to jump out the window. She was about halfway out when my brother suddenly realized, "Hey. This doesn't look normal. Maybe I should do something." He managed to grab her right hind leg before she sailed off into space, and eventually, asphalt. Someone in the car made this huge gasp (it was probably me) and Uncle Preston hit the breaks. Meanwhile, Lucy was dangling a few feet above the road scratching at the side of the car. Whether she was trying to get in or out of the car I don't know. Thankfully, James didn't drop her and pulled her back in before anything other surprising things could happen.
Lucy didn't seem to mind at all. She never cried out during the entire thing. Once she was back inside she laid down and went to sleep. Now, why didn't we think of dangling her out the window before?
However, I can't stop thinking about the one instant when she was leaping out the window. For one split second she was in midair going about sixty miles an hour. Now I can claim my dog can fly (or at least has suicidal thoughts). I hope the rest of my time in San Miguel is at least half that...er...interesting.
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 1/09/2004 04:27:00 PM 
