Perpetual Ruminations

The dog jumps out the window of a moving car and...

I was scrolling through some prompts, looking for something to write in my blog about; this was an idea I had some time back for days when I just could think of anything to blog about. I came across the following prompt, and remembered just such an incident. The dog jumps out the window of a moving car and... Of course, there are many ways this story could progress, but since I had just such an experience, why not write about that.

The dog was Sade, a down on her luck miniature poodle who had belonged to my ex-wife. Sade had belonged to a teenage girl who dotted on her and gave her a good home --- most of the time. Her brother was a brat and loved to torture the poor dog. But, as long as Sade's girl was around, she was protected and life was pretty good. When the girl wasn't home, however, all sorts of evil deeds befell the poor poodle. When the teen girl entered college, she was not around to protect poor Sade, and the girls mom feared that Sade would end up severely injured or even dead, so she looked for a new home for Sade.

My ex didn't treat Sade bad, but didn't really go out of her way to make her life grand, either. Sade just kind of existed and did her own thing, which often was misbehaving and in her own little dog way, rebelling. She wasn't happy with her new life, had been abused in her old life, and abandoned by the only person who had ever shown her love.

I already had a dog, a beautiful Golden Retriever, and not looking for another animal. I was raising two of our three teenage children, and trying to restart my life after the divorce. But, when my ex explained to me that she was moving into an apartment and couldn't take Sade with her, so she was going to have her brother take the poor thing out and shoot her, I had to intervene; I know had two dogs to go with the two teens. Sade needed attention, liked to misbehave, and had her own negative attitude, but with a little time and effort, she adjusted. She was never a good dog for us, but she did drop the bad attitude and didn't cause any real problems. With time, she accepted us as family, just as we accepted her.

The kids gave her a nickname that fit her profile, Sade was the "Goat Dog". She did look quite a bit like a little goat, walked like a goat (I believe she had suffered some damage to her legs from previous abuse), climbed on things like a goat, and got into things like a goat. Sade could manage to get up on counters and tables, no problem, although we never discovered how. I was aware of her past and tended to be more lenient with her doing these things than I probably should have, but knowing how abused she had been and how close she had come to being put down, I couldn't do more than scold her and try my best to teach her a few good manners. All in all, we had a good relationship and Sade would live out her life in a loving family.

Now, my Golden Retriever and I were real close, even though she was still a puppy. We had a wonderful bond right from the first and we went everyplace together, if it was possible. Of course, Sade didn't understand any of this, and wanted to tag along as often as she could. Sometimes it was practical, so she would have to stay home with the kids, which worked out fine. but, if she was left home alone, she was guaranteed to cause some problem or another. She just refused to get left behind and insisted she be included in everything.

It was on one of these times when my dog and I were going for a drive, I forget the details. Sade would have been home alone, unhappy, and gotten in to mischief, and since it was a nice day, it would do her good to get out for a while with us. It was spring time and very warm out. My dog loved having the window down so she could put her head out and feel the wind in her fur. Of course, I never put the window down far enough she could jump out, even though she was very well behaved and likely would never try anyway. My thoughts were, why take the risk.

But with the window down halfway, it was enough for a Goat Dog to fit through. I had not even thought about Sade jumping out, mostly because she wasn't much of a jumper and could barely see out the window when she stood on the seat, with her front paws on the armrest. I wasn't thinking about how this same dog could find her way onto tables and counters, defying the laws of physics.

One minute were were driving down the highway with Sade standing and looking out the glass while Klarissa, my dog, had her head out the window. Driving fifty-five miles an hour was a bit too much wind for Klarissa, so she sat down next to Sade and before I could put the window up, Sade had managed to launch right out the half open gap. I didn't see how she managed to get from her seat to the open top fo the window, but I did see her dropping towards the pavement going by at fifty-five miles per hour and my heart stopped as I pictured in my mind the devastation she was about to endure.

Without hesitation or actually even conscience thought, I lunged towards the passenger side while controlling the car with my left hand. I reached out and down even as Sade vanished from my view and felt my fingers against her curly, goat-like fur. I closed my hand and gripped tightly to the little fur bundle as I slowed the vehicle down and steered towards the shoulder. Once off the driving lane I stopped the car and retrieved Sade through the now fully open window of my Grand Marque. She had been caught by the scruff of her neck and had suffered no injury, but her back feet hung mere inches from the pavement. She had come within less than a second of having her little life ripped and shattered from her small body. Even so, she didn't seem to really care. As I placed her on the seat beside me I could feel the trembling of my hands over the knowledge of how close she had come. Sade on the other hand, just waged her stubbed off tail and seemed to think this had been a fun adventure.

With the window rolled up far enough Sade could not possibly fit through, we returned home. Sade lived for years to come, even though she was already getting old when she came into my life. She even found a wonderful gal to dot on her once again when I met my present wife and we all lived as happy as a Goat Dog can be.