Fun and People-Walks

I've blogged before about taking your owners for walks, but there is one other component that happens on occasion: fun runs.
The other day we were walking around the neighborhood and my new friend the Shepherd mix ran away from his home to come and play with us. He's a very nice puppy (almost as big as me and still a puppy...woof! He's gonna be a big one). At the same time, one of those fuzzy little dogs was walking his owner across the street. Kind of a doggy traffic jam.

I wanted to play so bad, and Mom kept tugging on the leash, so I just slipped out of it. That's right, I literally took off the collar and ran like the wind after my friend. We had a great time! We ran and played and Mom couldn't catch us. Eventually she caught up to me, and the other dog owner caught up to him, so we had to stop. But it was great fun!

Tugging on the leash when you're walking a dog doesn't work when you do it wrong, as Mom found out the hard way. She should have made me sit. Instead she got uptight and worried about us fighting and started jerking the leash to try and pull me away. (We were't fighting, by the way, we were playing- big difference and she missed it!)
The only way to get away from her nervousness was to get rid of the leash.

I had a fun time, Mom got extra exercise, and everything worked out fine. But to you humans who get nervous- knock it off! Just a tap on the rump and a sit command will help take the nervousness down. Otherwise just let us play.

Human Health Walks

Today I took my Mom on an HHW- a Human Health Walk. We don't go as often as we should; I think she's a little chicken when it comes to bad weather (but don't tell her I said so). If humans understood how important dogs are to their health, they would take all of us dogs out of the shelters!

Today we visited Black Bay park in Post Falls, where we could walk by the Spokane River on a nice walking path. Mom thought it was cold, but it wasn't really. It was snowing, though. I LOVE snow. (The first winter I lived here, they took a picture of me in a snowstorm. I looked pretty snazzy in a heavy white iced overcoat. People don't know what they're missing by staying indoors during snow days). And nose-snow shoveling is really fun! If they only knew.

That park has GREAT smells, by the way. Lots of dogs are walked there, and some even run loose. I once met a couple of labrador retrievers that were a little out of control, but I made sure Mom didn't start any trouble.

Of course, the walk is really for Mom's benefit. SHE needs it. I wouldn't want her to become a diabetic like me. Both of us getting a needle stab in the morning and evening would not be good.

Anyway, today we saw some giant ducks. Mom says they were "Mallards"- I mean they were really really BIG! I wanted to chase them so bad, but Mom wouldn't let me. It would have been great exercise for her, but for some reason she wasn't as excited as I was about it. Maybe she has cut her calorie count down far enough today that she doesn't need the extra calorie-burn. Who knows?

Speaking of walks- I was proud of my neighbor friend Keisha the Malamute last night. She finally took her human for a walk. I was beginning to think their health was in jeopardy. That would be very bad!

At any rate, all of my doggy cousins out there remember: take your human for a walk daily. Even if it's snowing. We must take good care of our families!