December 19, 2004
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I spend a lot of time thinking about walking my dogs. The puppy just turned 16 weeks today, or maybe it was last weekend. Anyway, I was supposed to wait until her last shot, at 16 weeks, before I took her around other dogs. So I’ve had this great excuse. But all this time I’ve felt guilty for not taking the older one out. Except it’s all she can do to keep up with the constant chasing and tug-of-war antics that the puppy expects. Plus her sleep time has been cut in half. I feel bad for her but without her my life would be hell. I’ve never had a German Shorthair before and I don’t know if it’s the breed or just this dog but she just never stops. And she’s stubborn. She’s smart as hell. She’ll watch the screen while I type, watching the words form. She doesn’t miss a beat, but I get so sick of the constantness of her.
So today, after I read you all, and let me just stop a moment, from bitching about my dog, to tell you how lucky I felt this morning to be able to read some of you. MotherAlbert wrote a poem called “Wisteria” which needs to be published. I don’t know if you all are reading drunkpunches, but if you aren’t you’ll want to start. And when I saw MoonAssension‘s poem, “Humility” I decided to get my daughter to do it in calligraphy and frame it. But I think the real capper was jerjonji‘s Christmas story. There’s more but I’m wanting to talk about myself now.
You people rub off on me, I swear. I worked on my book and it just flowed. The sun was shining and the sky was so blue that I decided to risk whatever illness it is we were to immunize against and head out. I drove to this new place I’d seen along the river. Not Oaks bottom but close.
Part of my problem with walking is that I have been spoiled over the years. I used to walk every day at Tryon Creek. It was the perfect three-mile jaunt through some of the most beautiful woods I have ever seen. Just enough hills to get the heart-rate up. People were cool if you didn’t use a leash. Don’t go gettin’ all worked up, now, I use a leash. But I didn’t used to. Anyway, that’s too far to drive so I’ve been walking from my house. But this thing where half the walk is along a major road is not my idea of a good walk.
I get as close to the river, with my car, as I can and get the dogs out and leashed up. The puppy, of course, is impossible. She darts all over the place, and it’s all I can do to try and keep from falling down as she tangles around my legs, getting her leash mixed up with the other. I almost take her back but I remind myself that a tired puppy will be a better behaved puppy. We walk along the coolest street. On the river side it’s just this long strip of grass above the riverbank. I walk on the sidewalk and the dogs manage short bursts in tandem, looking just like those runners you see with perfectly-synchronized, matching labs leading the way. Every once in a while there will be someone sitting on a bench, looking out over the water. Across the street are wonderful old houses, in good condition. The street is quiet with lots of bikers and strollers. The puppy makes choking sounds as she strains ahead but I try not to notice.
We find a trail that leads down to what must be Oaks Bottom. I take the dogs off the leash and I am rewarded with a picture I will never forget. The puppy is tracking. She seems to have a better nose than the older one. Soon she is bounding like a rabbit through brush, in full motion. She is a working dog and this was her first day at work. The old one used to do this every day of her life, but for the puppy the thrill of finding her way in the world was wondrous. She is doing what she was created for and the initial hesitancy with which she followed the older one is replaced with a sureness of foot, as she sets out on her own, racing back to me when she gets too far. On the way back I watched for signs of mellowing. The only change was a slight bounce to her step. She thinks she’s hot shit now.
Comments (4)
I sit here reading and smiling;especially the dog that watches you as you type..i bet this one knows the rythm of your heartbeats as well…They have an intelligence way beyond our mental state.
I loved your descriptive story of your walk .Such amusing fun and knowledge is found when we let animals be themselves in nature.
I enjoyed this story so much you will have to share more of your dogs with us.
Dorothea
I love to hear people’s joy in their pets. I’m a cat person myself, though if I were completely retired I might have a dog. My neighbor at 76 is a serious dog person with a Welsh corgi that gets her out walking pretty much every day. She takes wonderful care of it. I’m like you though. I don’t know what I’d do without the constant activity of my 5 felines in my life, but I definitely have to take moments out, right now being one of them, and shut the door while I work. Happy holidays to them and us!
I like the way you wrote about your dogs. I am a cat person(though I don’t have any at the moment), I like dogs too. I think they at are better companions than the cats. Cats are too independent to care to give company unless they want to be with you. Otherwise they just ignore you. But still very lovable!
It’s wonderful to watch animals do what they were made to do. When my cat was little I was able to seee him stalk his first cricket in the grass and it was very cute and wonderful. Your story made me smile =).