Hi, I’m Wilma and I’m addicted to chasing things with flapping wings. Oh, I don’t differentiate, birds, butterflies and I get a buzz out of chasing flies too, sorry for the pun! Anyway, I was in trouble for the butterfly chasing yesterday. Apparently if I’m on an extending lead and suddenly try to go off over a field in chase of a butterfly it is unreasonable. Mum didn’t want to end up in that particular field when pulled by surprise or have her arm pulled so hard that it hurt for a while afterwards. I was told in no uncertain terms that I had to curb my behaviour. When I see a bird or a butterfly I’m supposed to say ‘Oh look at that pretty bird / butterfly’ and just point it out. Ha, right! Has she learnt nothing from living with Shadow for seven years? It was Shadow who introduced me to the sheer joy of chasing flying things, although I draw the line at her penchant for chasing a speck of dust. For me it has to be a little larger. To be fair, it’s more the noise that flies make that draws me to them, but Ari usually deals with those situations long before I get chance to offer assistance. When we’re out on a walk in the fields the possibilities are endless and I’m never happier than when I can dart from one butterfly to the next or startle a bird in some long grass that hasn’t seen me coming. These are the things that walks were made for. I’ve been told that the first step in overcoming an addiction is to recognise you have a problem. Sadly for Mum, I’m nowhere near that point. I’m still trying to convert her to my way of thinking and get her to join me in the chase. Somehow I think we might be at an impasse.
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