Here in Stanley, there are a bunch of things that I am not used to. The biggest surprise at first was how lax they are with their dogs. They are super into letting their dogs have free reign the whole time that they are out here and they do not discipline their dogs much if at all. It's kind of crazy to see and honestly, it can be annoying depending on your personality and viewpoints on the dog/owner relationship.

Sometimes I do think that it's nice to have the ability to let Lylah off-leash whenever I want but at the same time, it's annoying to watch others wonder why their dogs never listen and why they run away from them to go off into the wild. It's not really hard to figure out why. I mean if you were a free dog wouldn't you take that time to go do what you wanted and its even better if there are no consequences (for the dog)

For instance, the other day a few people came over to the place I'm staying and one of the dogs took off when the owner wasn't looking. Next thing we knew there was a small search party trying to find him. People were shouting his name and driving around trying to see if they could spot him. for over an hour he was missing and just roaming around having a grand old time, digging some hole, and once he was done he started his journey back in our direction. Relieved but frustrated his owner stated he wasn't going to be off-leash anymore. Of course, that wasn't 100% the case. After that, she would let him off-leash and then call him back when he was attempting to take off. He would come back only to attempt to make his way back over to the prairie that's near the house. 

Through all of this, I watched in silence thinking about Lylah in this situation. I would be frustrated, angry, and sad. I would be worried someone would pick her up or worse dognap her (that has been on the rise in the last year) and I would never see her again. Luckily he came back and in hindsight, I don't blame the older pup. He lived his life on a leash pulling dog sleds and I'm sure that when he gets the chance he just wants to roam and explore that freedom that he has. All in all, I was just glad they found him and that he was ok. 

I think the biggest thing I learned from that experience is that everywhere I go is different and new some dogs are really well trained and others have that little extra spunk that you need to pay attention to. All in all, I would say that if you ever come to Stanley and you don't want to have your dog off-leash, well then keep them on and step in when necessary but otherwise don't worry about it. After all, everyone's insight is different on what they do and don't want out of their furry friend.