Imagine watching the same movie day after day. Your favorite movie, even. It's a guarantee that no matter how much you enjoy seeing Indiana Jones escape disaster or how riveted you are to the screen each time the Titanic slams into the iceberg… sooner or later a daily helping of even your most cherished movie moments would get old. A bag of popcorn can only see you through so far.
In that same spirit, the Vicktory dogs are now watching a whole new collection of movies, as it were. They're getting to see more and more of the world around them. Their world was kept pretty small for these first few months. To be clear, that was a good thing. These dogs couldn't take in too much at once, not with their background. Everything new was suspect and intimidating in their eyes.
At some point, though, the daily walks became fun outings instead of mandatory exercise sessions. The new toys became, well, toys. Not treacherous, brightly colored enemies waiting to pounce. And the Vicktory dogs finally started seeing how much more there could be to life.
The Vicktory dogs reached a point, in fact, where they wanted more. Hey, the walking thing was great but that same old loop stopped packing a punch after awhile. Rather like the 182nd time in watching that favorite movie. There's nothing wrong with it, of course, it's simply time to see something else.
The caregivers working with the Vicktory dogs used to walk six dogs a day as part of their daily activities. Now that task has broadened to something much more flexible. They now interact with six dogs a day.
This can mean a walk. Or, it can be a run through the new agility course. It can even be giving the dog a bath. But nothing seems to open up the world like a good old-fashioned car ride. Some of the Vicktory dogs didn't seem to like car rides at first, but it didn't take long for them to realize the possibilities. Sometimes the car rides include short walks elsewhere around the sanctuary. Other times they meet new friends at a designating social spot. Each trip, however, the dogs get to see a whole new slice of the universe.
Today I had the pleasure of riding along on one of these adventures with Oliver, a Vicktory dog, and his caregiver Bill.
Oliver didn't want to get in the car at first. For one, it was a new vehicle to him. He'd been on four rides with Bill before, but those took place in a red Jeep. This was a smaller white car. This was something out of the norm, and therefore not to be desired. Not only was it a new vehicle, but this crazy writer person (me) was sitting in Oliver's seat. (Hey, I would've sat in the back seat. It was Bill's idea for me to ride shotgun!)
But here's the interesting part. Even though it was a new car with new seating arrangements, Oliver settled right in once we hit the road. He slipped into that universal zone of canine perpetual bliss—his head stuck out the window with the car cruising at a speed of around 25 mph. Happy days.
We didn't go all that far or anything. We more or less meandered around the sanctuary for ten or fifteen minutes. All along Oliver sat on Bill's lap—once or twice trying to steer the car—and stuck his head out the window to see the sights. But even in our short travels, Oliver had a grand ol' time. He didn't even seem to mind the writer sitting in his seat. Such is the power of new sights and smells. Something that Oliver, and the rest of the Vicktory dogs, are finally ready to experience.
Better make some more popcorn.