So, the weather is turning a little better. All the snow and ice have melted off. The temperatures are above freezing, even above the 40’s deg F (4s deg C), we’ve had some sunshine, the winds have (mostly) died down. In all, a lot better than the winter conditions we’ve been having. In short, it is dog walking weather.
The dogs have had a few walks over the last few months but not on any type of regular basis. The wife was out this morning, so I figured it would be a good time to take them.
Normally I walk them all individually. If I walk Major and Sirocco together, Major bullies the little guy a the start of the walk. Then when they settle down, one wants to go in one direction, the other wants to go in a different direction. I keep pointing out to them that it works better if we all go in the same direction at the same time. It has fallen on deaf ears. If I walk Magdalena with either of the others, well, that’s too much power for me to handle these days. I’d get dragged down the road if they weren’t trying to go in separate directions.
This morning I ended up having to take Major Tom and Sirocco at the same time. I let Major Tom out in the backyard so I could get his harness on but Sirocco bolted out at the same time. They knew what was coming and were hyper as all get out. I tried getting Sirocco back inside but then I had to deal with Magdalena trying to get out. All three were barking their fool heads off. It was easier to just take the two smaller dogs at the same time. Getting their harnesses on was a challenge. They were both doing whole body tail wags. Sirocco kept spinning around. Major Tom kept snapping at Sirocco. Ultimately I wrangled both of them and we went on the walk. (Magdalena was inside howling the whole time.)
The two didn’t do too bad together. Since it was their first time out in a while, they had to catch up on all the pee mail. Not that we have any other dogs on the hill at the moment, but we do have a lot of wild critters that I’m sure leave scents behind. They took a little longer than I expected but they seemed to enjoy themselves.
I got them back home and they were more than willing to go inside to guzzle water. Magdalena came out and I got her ready to go. She was a lot easier to get in her harness than the first two had been. Surprisingly, she was very well behaved during the walk. I expected she was going to pull me like she usually does. She too had to read the pee mail, which she usually ignores. I guess getting the lay of the land after being inside for so long was more important than trying to run. She really needs the exercise and could probably stand to lose a few pounds. If she were trained to do so, I’m sure I could have hitched her to a sled and let her pull me all around the hill. She’d probably have gone down the hill, to the other end of town, and back home again. I doubt it would have tired her out. I got her out and back without much issues.
As long as the weather remains fairly good like this I’m going to try to get back into a regular routine of walking the dogs again. I’m sure they’ll enjoy it. It gives me a little time outside the house and getting some exercise as well. I expect we’ll start getting rain soon during the Spring season, but that isn’t as bad as walking on ice.
I hope you’re able to get out of the house and enjoy some time in the great outdoors, my Hordeling.
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