A change of routine could have brought disaster today.

Miss Three loves going to the local shops by bus. It gives a rare opportunity for her to tap my Fare Card on and off, (which is a very grown-up thing to do) and to press the buzzer for our stop (also a sign of being grown-up).

She enjoys saying, “Thank you” to the bus driver, and has recently added “Have a good day”. Today she said, “I really like your bus!” She usually adds “Bye!” with a cheery smile and one special driver got “Bye! Love you!” as we got off. He didn’t know quite what to say. They all enjoy Tuesdays when they see her waiting at the bus-stop, and their faces are already smiling as we get on.

Sunny, of course, also loves to go to the shops, so we sit in the courtyard of the café with our coffees, her doughnut, and his bowl of water. He knows the Tuesday routine.

Dogs of course can’t travel by bus, so I generally get him ready with his harness and lead on, and in his car seat; my husband drives him, and we meet at the shops. Sunny is always overjoyed to see me, and one would think he hadn’t seen me for hours. The shops are only a little over one kilometre from our home.

Today, I asked my husband to wait for twenty minutes before setting out, so Miss Three and I could do a little shopping, and she could help me choose a birthday card for her cousin, soon to turn fourteen. It would save them waiting outside the shopping centre for us.

I got Sunny ready, and left his lead at the internal door to the garage, for Pa to just clip it on to his harness and put him in his seat.

I messaged Pa to say we’d finished our shopping, and he messaged back to say he was on his way.

Fifteen minutes later they still had not arrived. We would be late having our coffees, would miss our usual bus home, and she would be late for her nap. We had a bit of a timetable to follow on Tuesdays.

Pa was more than a little unhappy with Sunny when they finally did get there, Sunny rushing ahead, straining at his lead to run and meet me.

Why the delay? Sunny had done something he has never done before, I was told, a little grumpily.

It seems Pa had opened the internal door AND the garage door to take something to the rubbish bin, and Sunny had bolted. He ran up and across our street, and around the corner to the bus stop on the main road, looking for me! He was in a panic because I had been gone nearly half an hour, and I had not put him in the car ready. He feared he’d been left behind and was on a desperate search to find me.

Pa walks with a limp, so had significant trouble chasing him and calling him to return.

I can go to the rubbish bin at the side, near the front of the house, I can go to the mailbox near the footpath, and I can garden on the front lawn; Sunny will accompany me and remain by my side without his lead. Every time.

He always comes when I call him, waits when I tell him to wait, and sits before we cross a road until I say “Go!”, and has never once run off in more than four years.

Me? Well, I really thought Pa would have clipped on Sunny’s lead and put him into his car seat BEFORE he opened the garage door. Wouldn’t you think so? Pa will get more detailed instructions if the same situation should ever arise again.

Nevertheless, it was a sign of Sunny’s love for me. Who needs words?