Over the last few days, my left hand has been feeling better and I felt like my grip was much stronger. I also felt like I might be up to trying to take my dog out scootering myself. So I worked up my courage and told Rich I was ready for this on Saturday.
But first, I wanted him to take Sascha out for a spin. I was hoping that taking Rich around the block would take some of the engery out of her. He got her harnessed up and ready to go. Sascha was anxious for the garage door to go up and hit the pavement. She barked and jumped around. Finally, the door went up and Rich shouted, “Hike!” Away they flew down the driveway and out into the neighborhood.
On a cold, crisp day like today, you can hear Rich shouting commands to Sascha as they went around. He took her to the end of the street by the lake and around the backside of the block. They came by the end of Oak and Rich shouted, “On by,” which meant Sascha had to continue straight to Holiday. They were coming around the front side of the block and around the front of the house.
I went inside because I forgot to grab a water bowl for Sascha. She is usually very thirsty when she makes a run. I got back outside just as they were pulling around the corner. Sascha came running into the garage and straight for the water.
I thought I’d give her a couple of minutes to cool down before I tried my turn. I got my helmet and Rich attached the helmet cam to it. I put on the wrist guards as a precaution in case I fell. I certainly didn’t want to break my wrist all over again. By this time, Sascha was more than ready to take off again.
I got on the scooter and tried to get acclimated to the feel. It shifts rather easily from side to side. I tried to get a feel for the back brakes. I couldn’t feel them gripping the tires. I messed around some more and finally decided it was time to take this puppy out for a run. I shouted, “Hike” and Sascha got herself figured out enough to go down the driveway.
Oh my gosh! I felt like I was flying. She can run so fast. I stopped the scooter and the dog across the street. I was not prepared to gain that much spend in so short a space of time. I continued to shake some more, but decided I had to see this through. So off we went again.
On level ground, it’s a little slower to gain speed, but Sascha is still incredibly fast. I feathered the front break and constantly shouted, “Easy,” which means to go slow. However, I don’t think Sascha has a slow speed in her. She just wants to go flat out full speed all the time!
I made it down to the lake without much trouble, but continually reminding Sascha to slow down. A lady was walking along the side and Sascha had to go by and say hello. She is definitely one social dog. We continued on for a few yard before Sascha decided to make a pit stop.
I had thought to ask Rich about the times when Sascha decides to stop suddenly. His advise was to follow her nose. That’s what she does. If she stops, she points her nose in the direction she is thinking about just before she does it. I caught sight of her nose pointing to the side of the road and managed to slow down just before she ran to the grass. That was one lesson down.
We got up to cruising speed very quickly once we hit the pavement again. I saw a squirrel dart out onto the road way ahead of me. I was pretty sure that Sascha wasn’t going to miss that squirrel either. I was right. She pulled harder and tried to speed up to catch him. I pulled in on the brakes and slowed her down. It worked. She didn’t go off course to chase him.
We made it to Oak and I shouted, “Haw,” which means left to her. She turned onto the street and we bumped our way over the dried dirt in the road. There’s always debris in the road here. I bumped and shifted over it with some fear, but I managed to keep my feet on the scooter.
This is one of those places where Sascha always looks for squirrels and I was so afraid she would dart off the road in search of one. She can see this stretch of road from her end of the yard, but she can’t reach anything. Luckily for me, no grey, furry things went scampering out into traffic.
We roared up to our driveway. I shouted, “Gee” which means right to Sascha. It was a little premature and she tried to run up the driveway on the wrong side of the car. I managed to stop her and she went around the car to Rich and Rick. We rolled right into the garage and Rich shut the door.
Wow! I didn’t know my dog could run so fast! It was amazing and very scary. But now I have a feel for it. I just need to go out more often and take her around the block and expand out into the neighborhood. Maybe I’ll get used to the speed and Sascha will get used to me holding her back. But that’s enough excitement for one day.