Our family dog is a tall, 100-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback named National. (Named after our favorite band, not the baseball team) He’s two years old, in his physical prime, and originally bred to run and hunt alongside horses in the verdant plains of southern Africa. Leashed strolls in the paved paradise of Redondo Beach are nice, but hardly position this dog to do what he’s made to do. About once a week, however, Brae and I are able to let him run at full speed in the wilds of a Palos Verdes trail. Watching this animal off leash, galloping at 25 miles an hour is a vision to behold. Free, uninhibited, and fully-alive. Let’s kick off the new year considering what would happen if we all ran off leash a bit more in 2022?
