I decided to take our dog, Bella on a 5 mile walk today. I wasn't sure if she would make it since she is a fairly small dog.
She started out full of peppiness (is that even a word?), jumping from side to side on her leash. She wouldn't walk in a straight line, there was just too much to see and smell. We walked half-way with Morgan to school, and enjoyed his company. It's the strangest thing to look up at your son. He sure is growing! When it came time for us to part and go separate ways, Bella looked perplexed. Morgan and I joked about the possibility of him bringing her to school with him. He was sure his English teacher, Mrs. Mongielo, (who happens to be a dog lover) would gladly allow Bella to stay.
But Bella had a mission to accomplish, or rather I, to see how she would fare on such a long walk. We said our good-bye's and off we went.
When we reached the main road, Bella seemed to get even more excited when she saw the cars whizzing by and the high school girls walking to school. As a group of three girls approached us, they all said at once, "awe, she's so cute!" One of course wanted to pet her, and put her hand out for Bella to sniff. Bella took this jester quite seriously, and sniffed intently. Then all off a sudden, she let out a loud and slightly aggressive "ROOF!" The girl then looked at me with the most perplexed look, and I said, "sorry..."
We then proceeded past the new Walgreen's on our right, and over a bridge. This really intimidated Bella. The noise from the cars passing by was much louder and seemed to echo on the bridge. Then a huge truck drove by, which seemed to frighten her, and from that moment on she seemed very apprehensive of automobiles.
We had probably walked around 2 miles by then, and now we were walking uphill. She seemed to want to stop for a rest, so we did every so often. As I was walking, my mind started to wander on how I could seem to handle the walk with ease, and why she, a young dog might be getting tired? Anyways, the only thing that made sense to me was that she had to take more steps to keep up with my stride.
When we reached the top of the "mountain," we took a left toward the golf course. The sprinklers were on, so she and I walked closer to the course. I thought she might enjoy a sip of water from one of the puddles on the ground. Nope, she's too good to drink straight off the ground. She would not stoop to such a level!
As we wound our way around the course, she saw a bird. The type that run on the ground with a little plume on their head. I so can't remember the name for this bird. From that moment on, she was alert and re-energized! I learned something new about her today, that she loves chasing little birds! Every time she would hear a rustling sound in the bushes or the trees, she would get more pep in her step and pull forward on her leash. This slowed our walking pace quite a bit.
We turned around and then I decided to jog up the hill in hopes to keep her focused on the task at hand-- completing our walk. This seemed to work and before we knew it, we were back on the main road, heading home. She seemed to recognize that we had already been this way, and that we were headed home. She picked up her pace and we made it home an hour and a half later. We were both so thirsty! As Madison was filling up her bowl with fresh water, I was getting a glass of water for myself. Bella didn't see her bowl of water, so she kept jumping up to my glass of water, begging for her own. As we both settled down, and refreshed our thirst, I realized-- "hey, I have a new walking pal!" YAY
