Anyone who has been following Roo’s life at Geocaching.com knows that she has a propensity to suddenly run off. This has been documented by her caregiver Serrabou in three recent cases (Roo's Reststop, Roo's Runaway, and Roo's Romp). I am an eminent dog psychologist (not to be confused with a dog whisperer, which is not a real profession) and I was called in to see if these incidents were normal for a dog in the described situations or if perhaps she had dromomania or runaway syndrome.
We spent quite a bit investigating not only the incidents described by her caregiver, but her childhood, relationships with her parents, etc. In the end I determined that for a dog of her breed, disposition and size, her reactions were completely normal. In one of the sessions I got her to describe another not documented to date episode from her point of view. Below is the narrative. Since she has problems writing and verbalizing she used pictures which she could draw using paw paints.
This episode began at the Cox Farms while her caregiver was perusing annuals for decorate Roo’s yard. It was getting a bit and Roo was a bit hungry and no matter what she did she couldn’t get anyone’s attention. Here bone had lost its appeal. So she looked around and the only thing around that she could reach without causing a scene was a pot of flowers. They didn’t look too bad and probably contained the fiber that is supposed to be good for her digestive system. So she proceeded to chow down.
Now I’m pretty sure everyone knows that compared to Homo sapiens, dog color vision is limited, especially in the red-green portion of the spectrum. This is what she saw, unbeknownst to her, they were California poppies. WELL! All of a sudden the world changed. She started feeling a bit dizzy and seeing stuff that wasn’t there a few moments before.
She grabbed her bone and ran. Looking around it seemed the safest place would be as far away as possible. This meant crossing the “circle of death.”
With some trepidation she made it across without dying. Once on the other side it was almost as if someone had turned out the lights. What to do? Since she’s right-pawed she was inclined to go to the right. So she did.
She ran past the psychic pole of power, which attempted to lure her onto the wider trail with a line down the middle on the other side of the pole—it would be a faster way to run. But Roo had enough sense to know this was a mind meld trick to get her to do something she shouldn't.
She kept running past the marsh of vapor creatures.
Soon afterwards she entered the lollipop canyon.
About this time, her pulmonary system caught up with her. So she slowed down and looked for a safe place to hide. She passed a rectangular thingee (that’s her terminology, not mine) and shortly thereafter she turned left off the trail.
She ran through the woods making sure not to drift across the wicked wire to her left.
She eventually came to a great gathering of strange birds, about 98 Roo lengths from the trail. They seemed friendly enough, so she buried her bone where a bowing tree touched the ground.
After a time the world returned to the way she remembered it. But she was back at the farm without her favorite bone. She told me that finding that bone would go a long way to helping her get over her anxiety. I offered to help, but alas I have yet to find it. She and I challenge you to find it.
Make sure you take note of the three letter code on the container. You will need it (it is the letter K) to find the series bonus cache: TRIBUTES17: The Bonus Finale .
Congratulations to berningc for the FTF.
This cache is located in Elk Lick Preserve, a Fairfax County Park and has been approved by the Ward Crawford the Deputy Area 5 Manager. County park rules apply including:
- The park is only open during daylight hours
- Pets must be on a leach and owners must clean up after their pets
- No alcoholic beverages
- No motorized vehicles
- No camping or fires
- No dumping or littering
- And of course, no golf
Please park at the coordinates provided and walk along Braddock Road to the crosswalk to the beginning of Roo’s run. Park anywhere else at your own risk; do not park at the entrance to Sully Woodlands and block the gate (N 38°52.618' W 077°29.495)—it’s a towable offense.
You might feel tempted to park across the street in that rather large parking area. We have permission from the owners (Aaron Cox) to use that area as long as the establishment is open. Be aware of the hours, if you are parked there at closing time, your vehicle will be locked in until the next opening time or it is towed away. The farm isn’t open daily, it’s open at different times seasonally. So waiting to claim your vehicle could be awhile, unless your vehicle has been towed.
