Personal Growth x3

Or alternatively: Lilah's Weakness Discovered!  Finally!

Okay, so maybe it's not so much a weakness, but a motivational...thing?  Oh, and I guess fair warning: this is a relatively long story.  Like 1,000 word essay long.

In order to help Ritter with whatever weird problems he has in his head, I've been taking him on walks.  Before, my mom had believed him to be impossible (actually just challenging) to walk with.  He'd constantly pull, zig-zag across your path and suddenly stop.  That was however, due mostly to the influence of Lilah.  

We had believed that a whole family walk would be more fun, so me, my mom, Lilah and Ritter would try going out for a walk.  It was always horrible.  Screaming and kicking, foaming at the mouth and crazy eyes, and me just wanting to cry while my mom fought to stay upright against Ritter's amazing pulling force.

So this week I tried taking Ritter out, just me and him.  It was one of the most pleasant walks I'd ever been on!  He took a little convincing to leave the house, but once we were walking on the sidewalk, he stayed with me.  He pulled a little, but would stop and sit once I stopped moving.  He waited patiently at the crossings.  He even let three loud and excited teenage girls pet him and feed him treats (albeit briefly).

Was it a fluke?  Was he just so overloaded that his body had no choice but to go with me at my pace?  Personally, I think he was just happy to have some time away from Lilah.  I mean, honestly, everyone needs time away from Lilah at some point every day.

When we got home, I lavished him with praise and proudly told my mom what a good boy he had been.  Ritter was happy he was praised.  Mom was happy with the thought of going places with Ritter.  I was happy to have experienced what a normal walk with a dog is supposed to be like.  Everyone was beaming with joy!

Well, everyone except Lilah.

We repeated this for the next few days, going out on our half hour walks and enjoying the peacefulness of a reduced-stress walk.  Ritter even met a small Yorkie the size of his head.

But every time Ritter and I left for our walk, something was growing within Lilah's heart.

Finally, on Thursday I had to go to the pet store to buy FJ some of his annoyingly expensive specialty dog food that might not even be helping his allergies.  What a great opportunity to spend some time with Lilah, I thought to myself.

It was a risk though.  The last time I tried to take her to the pet store, she refused to leave the parking lot.  She almost got stuck under the car.  In retrospect, I should've just picked her up and carried her in, no matter how ridiculous it might have looked.  But you know what they say about hindsight.

Getting her into the car wasn't that much of a struggle.  She's usually pretty good about getting into the car, she just has a tendency to scream when I need to get her to leave the property line.  I tried putting her in the front passenger seat, but she preferred the back.  I guess she felt the back driver's side seat was the best place to scratch the hell out of the carpeted floor mat.  Mostly because I can't reach her there.

After a ten minute drive, we faced the next challenge.  Getting her out of the car and into the store without it looking like I was kidnapping her.  She hopped out of the car and walked straight to the automatic doors as if she did this everyday.

What?!  So easily?!  I swear, had I stopped in shock, Lilah probably would've thrown me a casual look over her shoulder and asked, "You coming or not?"

All right, but the real test is how well she behaves in the store.  I remember a few times when we were in a pet store, she began to make the biggest fuss, barking, scrabbling and trying to get out, shying away from friendly people as if they'd hit her.

Except, she didn't do any of that.  The leash was slack and she walked comfortably at my side.  She stayed near when I stopped to look at things.  She even met a Pit Bull without being all weird.  I was even able to peacefully call my mom to ask about dog food, while a couple came near to purchase some food and say a brief hello to Lilah.  No obnoxious noises, no embarrassing tugging and labored breathing from Lilah.  For once, pushy dog trainers didn't come over and make me feel bad for my misbehaved dog, because she was everything perfect!  Even well groomed (which had taken me two weeks of constant grooming, no joke).

Of course, I played it cool like Lilah was always like this.  I sauntered down every aisle.  I had imbalanced stances as I stopped to inspect toys.  I let my arm dangle at my side, Lilah's leash attached to my wrist and lazily gripped in an open fist.  It was like a dream come true!

And when I had purchased FJ's pricey-ass 11 lbs. bag of food, Lilah and I left the store like nothing spectacular had just occurred for the past half hour.  But Lilah and I both knew that it had.

When we arrived home, she hopped out of the car, didn't freak out over the fact that our gardener was blowing the leaves on our lawn, briskly walked past him to the front door and waited for me to open it.

I excitedly told my mom what a good girl Lilah had been.  I gave Lilah a good scratching while lavishing her with praise for her wonderful behavior.  My mom smiled fondly at Lilah and told her how proud she had made me.  Even Ritter greeted Lilah with a happy, "welcome back".

For the first time in a long time, Lilah knew what it was truly like to bask in the praise of her family, and not her own self pride like she's used to when she happens to get the best of me.

So Lilah's weakness/motivation?  Jealousy!  Or maybe a sense of doubt in her heart?  Whatever it was, I'm pretty sure that my walks with Ritter had caused Lilah to look deep within herself, question her behavior and reflect on what she truly wanted in life.

So much personal growth all around.  It really broke all kinds of expectations.  In the amazingly fantastic kind of way.

1,110 words.  Bam.