Dusty's Flying Lesson

It's official. Our dog thinks he's invincible. As if surviving a dash across a huge, busy intersection wasn't enough, now he's decided that he can fly!

Dusty's flying lesson came about a couple of weeks ago when we were on our usual Sunday walk along a nearby creek/storm drain. It's Dusty's favourite place as he gets let off the lead for a good run. He's very well behaved (most of the time) and always comes when he's called which, on this occasion was part of the problem! There are two paths that run along each side of the creek, we walk along the bottom path, close to the river but sometimes Dusty likes to explore the top path too. The slope connecting the two paths is quite steep but our agile little fellow manages to run up and down it at great speeds and without falling on his face!

Now, I already mentioned that this creek is like a storm drain too, so this means there are points at which water can enter at intervals along it. Because South Korea, unlike Australia, is not lacking for water, these inlets are quite large. I've often looked at them and thought to myself, "if Dusty were to jump off one of those, he'd probably break all his legs". Well, he proved me wrong but my nerves have barely recovered from it!

Allow me to use a couple of photos to illustrate Dusty's latest adventure:

This picture was taken from Dusty's point of view. He was exploring, as usual and Luke and I thought it was time to keep moving. We called him to us from about where Luke is in this picture. He came barreling down to us, got to the low concrete 'wall' you see in this photo and that's when everything started to go in slow motion.....

You see, that concrete 'wall' happens to be the top of the drain inlet and when Dusty got to this point he didn't look, he just leapt. It's a little hard to tell from a photo but he basically launched himself off about a 3 metre drop. He appeared to hang in mid-air at this point before landing on the concrete and sliding down towards the icy, although thankfully shallow creek. Somehow, the only injuries he sustained were a few grazes on his back legs from sliding down the drain inlet and a bit of shock, but I can tell you that Luke and I were both picturing the worst before our boy emerged from under the bridge we were standing on. Luke jumped down into the drain expecting to find Dusty under the bridge with several broken legs but there he was, on the opposite side of the creek, all in one piece! He splashed back across the semi-frozen creek to us and was promptly taken home whereupon he was given a warm bath and put to bed. He slept soundly for the rest of the day and was completely recovered when he woke in the evening to go for his second walk. It took me a little longer to recover.... I still get shivers when we walk him past that drain!

So, that's the story of the day Dusty attempted to fly. Needless to say he hasn't tried it since and I don't think he will (unless you count his flight to Australia). Still, maybe it was partly our fault, we did buy him a superman hoodie after all.... 

Lucy