Once outside of ‘Kennel for a Day’ with Charlie, your Bernese Mountain dog companion, by your side, you see a forest path leading away from the building. For just a moment, you stand there, look around and try to make sense of the play of emotions you experienced with the kennel lady. You look down at Charlie and smile as the dog looks back up at you expectantly. And you try recapture the initial eagerness that you felt when the kennel lady went to pick out your canine companion for the day. But you find it hard to recapture that particular feeling as the happiness and eagerness of wanting to be with the kennel lady stays at the forefront of your mind. You aren’t sure what to feel at this moment. The only thing that you can be sure of is that the kennel lady will be waiting for you when you come back. And that surety is the only thing that is making you go on this walk with Charlie in the first place.
You and the dog walk away from the building’s exit and onto the forest path. And once on the forest path, you allow Charlie to take the lead. The big dog immediately pads its way ahead of you and pulls you gently along by its leash. The next few minutes find you experiencing on what it must be truly like to have a dog as a companion. You watch Charlie as he pads on ahead of you. You watch how he holds his head up high and pants contentedly with a play of canine eagerness and acceptance on his muzzled face. You watch as he trots at an even pace for you, never trying to pull farther ahead of you, but always staying two feet to your right. And you watch as his fur coat gently sway back and forth on his body. Then you are looking at the play of his tail as he holds it up high. Watching him just move with such grace makes you feel a bit jealous of him as you now wonder what it was that made the kennel lady pick him for this walk and not you. Your imagination at this point doesn’t help either as it makes you wonder if the kennel lady would have picked you for the walk if you were more like Charlie here. You shake the crazy thought away and just try to enjoy your walk on this forest path with this dog.
Minutes later, you and Charlie are standing at a fork on the forest path. A wooden map stands directly at the fork in the path. You look at the map while Charlie pants contentedly by your side. And you see that the paths branching off of this one are of different lengths. The path to the left you see is the shortest one and would take you and Charlie back to ‘Kennel for a Day’ under thirty minutes. The path to the right is longer and would take you a hour and a half to return to your starting point. You also see that the longer path meets up with a sizeable dog park where you can let Charlie run free for a while. You then look back and forth at both paths in the fork and wonder which path to take from here. The left path would ensure that you got back in time to have the kennel lady take you on that walk she promised. But taking that path would mean you have less time to be with Charlie and less of an experience of being with him. To you the right path sounds ideal for having time with Charlie as you both can stop at the dog park for some fun. But taking this path would mean that you would be keeping the kennel lady waiting and you find yourself not wanting to do that. As surely she won’t wait for you that long before giving up on that walk she promised.
Which path do you decide to take?