39: Pied Piper (Cont.) Photos: My Dog.
******************************************************
The Pied Piper of Blowing Rock (continued)
My dog was DELIGHTFULLY leading an entire entourage of children, just like the Pied Piper “DOG”, enthusiastically marching a whole mob of children around in a circle of the Blowing Rock NC church courtyard, and every single child was just as eager following my dog, as my dog was in leading them. They had all all been told by the adults in charge that they could follow him, and when my dog looked back over the heads of the growing line of children filing out the front door of the church onto the courtyard, and orderly following him, when he turned his head back frontward, he he actually slowed his running, and started trotting in a parade-like trot. My was even holding his head up high, and it was something that I never could have imagined my dog was capable of. I thought, “Where did he learn to do THAT!”. When he was sure that they weren’t running after him, but walking, he slowed his pace, which kept the whole line together and orderly, and then the line stayed in an orderly progression the whole time the children continued to exit the church by the dozens!
When my dog completed his circle, he was smiling from ear to ear, and he was out of breath by the time he reached where I was standing, which was where the circle link met. He looked up at me for guidance, while there were still dozens of children coming out of that church! As this happened, his expression changed to frantic and confused, as if he was thinking one of the following things, “There are so MANY of them, they’re still coming out, I could get squashed, or… WHAT DO I DO NOW?”
With a lot more kids on the churchyard grass, and my dog suddenly confused, I quickly, calmly, and encouragingly, made an exaggerated hand gesture, firmly outlining the shape of a figure eight, while pointing and superimposing it over the courtyard grass. Since I had hand trained him for many years, he immediately took my hand cue, and obediently led that same long line of children into a perfect figure eight pattern. All the children continued following him in exactly the same way as the line now kept moving in a figure eight! That was when I saw the reaction in all the adult faces who had all gathered together up off the grass, and were just observing.
Everyone there that day, could attest to the fact, that this dog took on a leadership role. Sometimes, people underestimate the instinctive abilities animals are capable of….taking a situation, and seeming to rationally deduce what to do. My dog had the ability to join these children in their playtime, and keep everyone there involved, and participating in a fun activity. It was such a memorable event, that everyone there was dumbfounded, knowing that they had all been part of a very special phenomenon.