Who’s Walking Who????

It is a beautiful Fall evening. I had no trouble deciding if I wanted to finish mowing the yard or take the dogs for a W A L K while there was still daylight. Lily & Lena picked up my thoughts immediately and were sticking to me like glue to make sure I didn’t forget them. It always brings a smile to my face to see how excited and happy they are to go for a W A L K. We go through the ritual of bustling out the door into the garage where I keep the leashes. They prance around impatiently waiting for me to hook them up and head out. Lena, as expected, takes a dump within 10 seconds of leaving the driveway. I guess that is a good thing because then I don’t have to carry around the poop bag for the rest of the W A L K. As I take out the poop bag with the skull and crossbones on it, I wonder why they didn’t put the warning symbols on the inside, because you always scoop then turn the bag inside out. So I decide that from now on I will flip the bag so that the skulls are on the outside. I’m sure the people at John’s Disposal will be happy for the warning.
I adopted both dogs as adults. I have had Lily for two years, she is about four years old. I picked her up on the day she was going to be euthanized. I have had Lena for one year, she is approximately eight & a half years old. She came to me through a friend of a friend of a friend who knew I loved german shepherds. I know for sure that Lily had never been walked until she came to live with me. Lena, for sure not in the past year prior to my adopting her, her super long toenails were a big clue. For that reason they both love to go on
W A L K S.
As we continue on I embrace the peace and quiet of the outdoors and inside my head. I like to enjoy the clean air, the smells, trees, grass, all that nature gives us. It’s also a full moon tonight, I’m hoping the clouds will clear soon. I also like to watch the interaction between Lily and Lena. They have the same body build and walk and are always in unison. When they turn their heads to look at something, to stop and smell, etc, they do it together. Lily is very sensitive to other dogs and their energy. She tends to get anxious when we get to certain houses because she can “feel” the dog that lives there. When that happens I have to keep repeating her name to keep her mind distracted and on the task of walking. It is so much easier when we are about half way through the walk, the excitement has toned down and we walk fairly normal.
We are about half way through the walk and I think to myself, “I wonder what wonderful founding father of Whitewater decided it was a good idea to plant black walnut trees on the terrace?” And we keep moving, the dogs lead the way and I dutifully follow behind. There is no point in trying to make them heel. I decided it is so much easier to just let them walk me, we keep a good pace. Three quarters into the walk Lena starts to slow down, this is when her age starts to catch up with her and wins out over her enthusiasm. I remind Lily that Lena is getting tired and we slow down so she is comfortable. We stop to let a young man walk by and he comments on how beautiful they are and I reply “thank you”. I know he is right, they are and I am so blessed that they are a part of my life. These beautiful dogs who came into my life because they were discarded by someone else. I am the lucky one.
We are back home and I let them off the leash so they can run to the door. It is a mad dash by both dogs to be the first one through the door. The mission: to chase the cats if they happen to be lollygagging in the kitchen. They never seem to realize that the cats are not stupid, they know the dogs are home as soon as they run to the door. Silly dogs.