Puppy fall down, go boom

Akela's getting another break from running. Yesterday, when I was rollerblading with her, we were approaching a place in the road where we could go left or straight. I wanted to go left. Suddenly, a cat walked into the road about thirty feet past the intersection (straight ahead). Akela, having not seen a cat in years (if she's ever seen one at all), spotted the cat and suddenly started running as if someone had put rocket boosters on her back paws. I held on, and then, just as the intersection came up, I pulled on the leash, slowing her down and pulling myself in front of her. I cut her off and turned left.

Well, Akela was having none of that. She'd seen the cat and she wanted it. So she tried to keep running straight. Unfortunately for her, we were going really darn fast, and I weigh three times what she does. I felt the leash jerk and I kept going, dragging her behind me, knowing she would be fighting to get to the cat and knowing that since I was on rollerblades, if I stopped, getting going again while she was struggling to do something else would be much harder. When I turned to look at her, she was running with her front legs, but she had apparently fallen over, and her back was on its side. The poor dog was trying as hard as she could to get back up while running, but at the speed we were going thanks to her mad dash for the cat, she couldn't quite get it.

It was hilarious to see, mainly because she wasn't hurt. Never even whimpered, and she's a big baby, so that's saying something. I slowed down, she righted herself, and we kept going another lap or two with no trouble. When we got back to the house, I checked her rump where she had fallen. There's a small patch of fur that's slightly roadburned. (I thought it was just messy, but I brushed it and it was still frizzy-looking, and when I looked closer, I noticed it was actually burned.) Good thing she's so fuzzy. Without her fur, she would have been skinned up. Also, an hour or two later, after we had all had some water and cooled down a bit, I noticed her limping, just a little. My guess is she probably bruised her bum. Her limp is already gone, but I'm going to give her a few days break from running at high speeds around the neighborhood anyway. Maybe it's time for a good old-fashioned walk.

Maybe that'll teach her not to chase cats. Especially when we're rollerblading, which is when she's supposed to be paying attention to me and the road and nothing else.