2014-12-30 – Lefty was born to chase geese.

We didn’t do him any favor by plucking him from his litter in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where his pack mates made a living chasing geese from beaches and golf courses and corporate parks, and bringing him to the big city. In Canada, he could run free. In Chicago, he lives in a house and when allowed outdoors must be on a leash. By law. Lefty resists the strictures of city life. And it’s become a power struggle.

My wrist is killing me.

Recently, we’ve come to realize that we make things worse by participating in the power struggle and we’ve tried to find ways to give Lefty the illusion that he is (sometimes) free, as he would be in Canada.

Now, I’m not saying that he gets to rule the roost. His favorite thing in life is to run after cars. If we gave Lefty free rein, the game would be over in a day. The cars would win.

What we’re trying to accomplish is to make our demands more focused—insisting that he not cross a street without permission or dart at a passing bicycle—while giving him a way to chase squirrels and geese.

It’s not easy to let him chase geese while keeping him on the leash. But it is possible.

Huff. Puff.

Here is a video of a typical chase.

Lately I find a flock in the park almost every day.

And once in a while we get him out into a forest preserve. He doesn’t like the car ride, but he’s happy once we are there.