Dog Paths

There is a path the dogs run in the yard. They began it when we moved here 10 years ago. Same path, multiple dogs, many years. Grass will never grow there and the dogs rarely deviate from the path. It is the shortest distance from the front yard to the back.

We all have certain paths we use in life. The quickest route from one place to another, from home to work, from work to home. For home to work and back I always take the same route. Any other place I travel I use one route going and another route coming back. It's not a conscious decision - I just do it.

Sophie would not use the regular dog path. The path she has worn into the grass is through the middle of the yard. As far away from whatever she feels is scary. To her it doesn't matter if it's the quickest. In her head it's the safest. Where she goes nothing can jump out and surprise her.

Which path's do we take that "feel" safest? Are they really? What if, for once we embraced all the easy comfortable things, and rejected the scary, emotionally exhausting things.

What if Sophie took the established path? Well for one, the yard wouldn't look like it has a motocross path down the middle. It would still have an obvious path close to the house that hundreds of paws have carved. I wouldn't mind that. Even when the kids were little playing on the grass was way more important to me than having pretty grass. So far be it from me to stress over the path that many happy dog paws have created.

Sophie may never consistently use the "regular" path. She may, over time, use it unconsciously whenever she forgets to be afraid. Perhaps that is my greatest wish for her.....that she forgets to be afraid. In fact, I wish that for all of us.