I have been able to walk outside with every dog I have ever had and trust them off the leash, except one — Zeke. We have had Zeke so long that I had forgotten what it was like to have a dog off leash and not have him immediately run away.

That’s why it feels so odd when I let Sam off leash. We have had him for about three and a half years, and in all that time I have walked him and the other dogs on a leash. Recently I decided to let him off the leash and see what he did. What he does is act like a normal dog. He doesn’t run away. But he is very happy to be off the leash. I take both dogs into the front yard and then let Sam loose. He usually runs around for a while like he’s crazy. He runs figure 8’s around the yard. I wanted to video him doing that, but this is the best I could do.

The bare ground where he stopped for a second is one of the sections of the yard I prepared for grass but never got any grass to grow. The dirt is well tilled and soft, so the cats consider it a perfect toilet. Dogs, as you may know, sometimes eat cat poop. I have read a bit about that particular disgusting habit, but I can’t say for sure why they do it. But they do. And Sam does.

One afternoon last week as I was sitting at my computer, Sam came in a laid down beside my chair. Then he threw up a big mess of liquid, a few pieces of dog food, and a couple of pieces of still-recognizable cat poop. Now you may think dog vomit smells bad, and you may think cat poop smells bad, but you don’t know the meaning of “smells bad” until you smell the two together.

I keep an eye on him now to make sure he doesn’t get too interested in rooting around in the loose dirt. It is fortunate that he minds reasonably well, like all of my other dogs except Zeke.

And now, as to Zeke. A little after lunch on Thursday Zeke got out. I immediately started driving around to try to find him. I actually saw him in a neighbor’s yard almost right away, but he disappeared before I could get to him. I drove around for about a half an hour with no luck, and then decided to give up for a while. As I drove up the driveway, I saw him lying in the shade of our pet maple tree. This was just as Leah was coming down the front stairs. By the time I parked my truck and came back around to the front yard, he had disappeared down the driveway. Leah said he was not moving too fast, so I gave chase.

In my case, “chase” is a charitable way to describe the way I followed him. I couldn’t go much faster than a fast walk down the driveway because it’s too steep for my knees. But I saw Zeke and I was gaining on him. He looked behind him, saw me, and quickened his pace. Not long ago he would have easily left me behind, but not today. When I reached the road, I managed to speed up and catch him. I don’t think he actually heard me because of his hearing problem, but he stopped as soon as I put my hand on his back.

Fortunately for me, I had taken a naproxen the night before, and it really helps my knees. Otherwise I could probably not have managed the “run”, and my knees would have been hurting afterwards.

But how sad for Zeke that an old man with bad knees could catch him.