Kite flying

[Michael Romanos]

The most scariest thing my Pem has ever seen. No it wasn't an exploding firework or a machine gun in action or a helicopter or MIke Tyson boxing and eating his opponent or even huge ping pong ball size hail amidst heavy clapping thunder. It was a kite gently lifting off the ground, pulled into the air by a little child. A medium size single coloured paper kite with a whisp of a tail. Up it went without much of a sound and not too far into the air Not at all alarming one would think. But man-oh-man, Taylor, who witnessed the whole dramatic thing, had never before seen something so terrible. Straight out of a horror movie it was. He tore off accross one very large park, over a road and accross another park and then away for home did he run. Not any of my yelling would stop him or even slow him. It was go for broke. Goodnight kite.
I seriously think that Taylor at age three, is a little more nervous and less laid back now than at any other stage of his life. He has never liked balloons and plastic bags are also not among his favourite items - especially the ones I take from the kitchen tidy to throw into the rubbish collection bin.

I must remember never to take Taylor up in a hot air balloon or in fact take him to see the annual hot air balloon show - which is a big attraction in NZ and not far away from where I live and features a dozen or so gigantic and manned balloons.

[Jane Austen]

I was to the beach recently with Duchess when a kite was moving on the sand just preparing to rise. She moved to attack. If I didn't have her on a leash the kite would have been history. She was also not calm about men with rigs for ("parasailing")????

[darci]

omg Michael that was too funny... poor taylor

[corgimom]

Michael,

I am trying to picture that - funny, but not so funny. My recent Corgi that
passed away was afraid of anyone that chewed gum- honestly. We had
adopted her at the age of 2 so I have no idea what her first two years
were like, but if she were sitting next to me and I started chewing gum, she
would get this frightened look on her face and get up and move far away -
sometimes into the next room. I always wondered if someone had scared her
with popping balloons or something. Strange or what?

Of course, we tried to limit our gum chewing in our house when she was
nearby.

Corgimom

[Jhemphill]

Michael,

How did you stop Taylor, and is he alright, running across roads frightens me so very much. I do not know how Maxi would react to a kite, he does watch hawks, turkey buzzards, planes and helicopter when they fly over but not seem to be frightened of them.

[Michael Romanos]

Taylor got home alright. The road between the two sections of the park (which is actually the grassy areas of a large reserve) is a not a main thoroughfare and when I said he ran all the way home - which he could effortlessly do - we actually met up about 800 yards down the sidewalk and before he needed to cross a more busy road.

We have helicopters and planes flying overhead quite a bit and lots of birds including large fat native pidgeons which have heavy wings, and large seagulls, but there has been no negative reaction to these. It is the association I think between balloons - which go way back - and a kite which like a balloon, went up and down and around at great changes of direction and pace being manipulated by the wind and a child pulling a string. And, see there's this tail on the kite - why wouldn't a tailless dog be scared of such a thing.

But you can never trust the most well trained dog in certain circumstances. Taylor does all kinds of things on command and direction off-lead. But when he's really frightened out of his wits - he does what any human would also do - run for your life and bugger the consequences and beware of false prophets - like me shouting out "it's all right Taylor it's only a flying piece of paper. It won't hurt you." To Taylor, the thing in the sky had a nuclear bomb attached.

The other thing at the park was that Taylor had met up with an over friendly Bishon Frise, named Ollie. Ollie is still a pup and all he wants Taylor to do is chase him. He'll yap and yap until Taylor obliges - not that Taylor really wants to. He feels that Ollie is beneath his dignity most times. Bichon pups are another of those somewhat silly breeds of dogs - at least during their puppy stages. Anyway, when Taylor took off, scared by the dreadful kite, Ollie's mother (oblivious to the kite) said " look Ollie, Taylor's doing what you want - go chase after him." So here's Taylor running faster than a hare - and looking like one in the long grass- heading for a safe haven which could very well have been hundreds of miles away - being chased by a Bichon pup under the encouragement of his owner ("Go Ollie Go'). Where's the video camera when you need it.

[Michael Romanos]

Reply to Jane - next time, Duchess: KILL (the kite). When Taylor was at the end of a long jetty last summer, he was extremely interested in all the water activity going on - paragliders, jet skiers, sail-boards etc.

Reply to Corgimom -There is one thing your dearly departed Corgi and I have in common - I also hate people chewing gum. It is most annoying to me and gum can be the world's most messiest thing. It is not allowed in my house. Anyway if you mean bubble gum then every so often the chewer will blow so that it expands like a peanut size balloon and it will explode on bursting. Now that is probably what your poor Corgi didn't appreciate. So from then on, very sensibly mind you, she associated chewing gum with loud unscheduled frightening results that came from the very mouth of her tormentor/s.