A few days ago I let Justin talk me into taking a walk with the dogs around town. I had no idea he meant really all around the town! It started out innocently enough...I was looking forward to the exercise being outside for a change. I've been working out on my Total Gym a lot lately because of the excessive heat and that can get really boring really fast. Plus your muscles get used to what you're doing so it's always good to change it up a bit.
I do take the girls out together some times now. It's still a challenge but I think they are improving somewhat. I even bought a special leash made for walking two dogs at once. Whoever thought of this idea seems to have forgotten that dogs that go walking often like to potty along the way. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get one dog to stand still while the other one does their business? Each side of the leash only gives them about 1 1/2 feet of room to move away from the other. That's not a lot of room when you have two young dogs that are used to being quite a bit farther from each other when they do that. Bell looked at me like 'what the hell is this Mom'? when it was her turn. (she's always the one that looks like that at me) I can't say I blame her. It was just as awkward for me having to pick it up with both of them trying to walk away (in different directions no less!) after they were done. This is going to take some getting used to that's for sure.
I also bought a 'gentle leader' for Nick since she's the excited one all the time. This contraption is supposed to stop her from pulling on the leash....yeah, right. Well, I tried it on her in the house and she let me put it on but went nuts trying to get it off afterward. Poor dog. She was all excited about going for a walk so I tried leaving the house with them both on the double leash AND poor Nicki in the gentle leader. It was just too much for her and not really fair to spring both things on her at the same time so I took it off and attached it to my belt loop for the rest of the walk.
But for this walk with Justin; KC and the girls I didn't use any of the fancy stuff. Two leashes, two dogs, no gentle leader. I told Justin (he had Nicki) when Nick pulls just stop walking and tell her to heel. She'll bounce back into the correct position and you can start up again. I didn't tell him he'd be doing that for the next two hours almost continually. ha ha I wanted him to have as much fun as I do when I walk her. Well once I found out how far we were going and how long it would take..I was glad I didn't tell him Nicki's tricks. Serves him right for springing this marathon on me with no real notice! He claimed it was a three mile walk. I think he just made that number up in his head because it sure felt like twice that amount! Of course the heat didn't help much either. It was a cloudy day but it was very muggy. My face was red and I started sweating almost as soon as I got out the door.
Overall it was good for us all. We all got some exercise; the dogs got to blow off their perpetual supply of energy and we got to see some really mundane and ugly scenery along the way too. Most of the walk took place on the streets and not in what I would call the pretty neighborhoods. Some really run down areas in my town that's for sure.
By the time we got home my feet were screaming and my knees were threatening to revolt. It's been too long since I hiked I guess and my body has a ready supply of complaints to display whenever it feels it's being abused. Not a problem. Once I got home I took a shower and popped a couple of White Willow capsules. It took a while for my face to return to it's normal color but the pain is all gone. And the rain held off until we got home. Good job!
The girls threw themselves down on the carpet in front of the fan and I didn't hear a peep out of them for over an hour. They were also very happy to go to bed early tonight.
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