TheBanyanTree: Dog Day

[Pam Lawley]

I won't say that as dog owners we're failures - our mutts eat well, are
completely loved and spoiled, AND they get to lick the beaters!  But, we
are not very good about getting them out and about.  We have a good-sized
fenced-in yard for them to run around in, and a very good-sized sectional
sofa for them to lay on,!

Our female is Annie, and she is four years old.  Our male is Mojo and he
just celebrated his first birthday a couple of months ago.  And they are
both Great Danes.  I have always taken Annie on walks with me.  She's
nervous about jumping into the back of my SUV, so I she gets her front paws
up and I have to give an assist in the rear for her to get in.  And then
she lays there panting and holding on for dear life!  She won't sit up lest
she fall in a turn, and she will not relax and enjoy the ride!  But she
LOVES going!  And she LOVES the walks!    There are no sidewalks around
here and all the cars make me nervous, so we almost always head on base to
the PT track.

If she sees me putting on my 'tennis' shoes, she starts whining and dancing
around! She knows - or expects! - she's going for a ride, and then a walk!
 And she's like a bloodhound on the course sniffing everything and
everywhere.  (One time we got stopped at a security check going on base and
she had to get out, and then get right back in a few minutes later -
without a walk!!  She'd been duped and she was NOT happy about that!!)
And she's not a very disciplined walker but sometimes I just don't have the
heart to reel her in - she is SO excited to be out there!  And, truthfully,
the faster SHE goes, the faster *I* have to go so it makes for a nice brisk
workout!  And if I run, well then it's a sprint!  However fast I think I
can go - she can go faster!!

The course is marked, and just past the 3/4 mile marker there's a water
stop.  It's a big water fountain, but there's a spigot at the bottom that I
turn on for her to drink all she wants.  And she knows it's there!  No
matter how long it is in between walks, she veers off course every time for
a drink!  Then we go to the 1.5 marker and we get to stop on the way back,
and at then at the fountain at the end.  I still have to stop and make her
sit to wait for other runners or bikers or somebody else with a dog though.
 Did I mention that she's not very disciplined?!

There are no dog parks around here - it's a small town.  And in fact, dogs
aren't allowed at the city park, or any of the ball fields.  My friend in
Florida often takes her dog to their park - or their own beach! - and I'm
always jealous!  It's so convenient to take her pets out!

And I am married to an avid - did I mention AVID? - golfer who golfs every
weekend day and then naps, so the opportunity to take the dogs together
somewhere is pretty nil.  And honestly, both dogs are too much for me.  The
few times I've taken Annie walking and left Mojo home though, he's spent
the time in pitiful sorrow whining and pacing wondering why he got left
behind!

Which is a shame, because Mojo LOVES a good car ride too!  And he has no
problem jumping into the SUV, nor is he fearful of curves!  He stands up
and sticks his head out and has a grand old time stepping all over Annie in
his excitement!

So today I took them to the river.  It's close to where my daughter Molly
lives (about ten miles down the road) and there's not usually a lot of
people.  Molly has a little mutt dog who loves to go, and when Annie was
just a few months old she and I went with them.  Then the hurricane came
and washed the beach away so the state closed it down for months - all of
last summer!  But it's back up and running and the weather is finally warm
again so we made a date to go this morning.

Oh.  What.  Fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loaded the bowl and some water bottles.  I emptied everything out of the
back and laid down the seats.  I put down a sheet and I thew in a couple of
towels.  When everything was ready, I pulled out the leads and we started
the dance of getting them on while they jumped around!  Getting them - on
leads! - through the garage to the car involved some flexibility on my
part, but I got them in the car in one piece!  Two big Danes pulling in two
directions heading for the same place - crazy stuff!!

I had all the windows down.  Annie, of course, got help getting in - Mojo
had already jumped in himself! - and then she hunkered down for the
treacherous ride! She has been known to rub her 'elbows' raw digging them
in on the curves!  Mojo danced from side to side, window to window, hanging
out his head and doing that amazing dog-breathing-out-the-window at 50 mph!
 I even managed to snap a photo of him!

My daughter and I had agreed to meet at nine and I was a couple of minutes
early.  She was a couple of minutes late!  And ten minutes is WAY too long
to keep two dogs locked in, even with the windows all down, with so very
much excitement outside to explore!!!!  I finally took pity and got them
out, and then we did some arm-stretching exercises to get warmed up!  All
of a sudden Annie seems SO disciplined on a lead (in comparison)!

Molly's little dog is a horrible whiner and a licker, but she is SO much
better behaved and very good off a lead.  I was happy when they showed up
because it gave my two something to focus on close by!

It's a short walk down a sidewalk to the river and we kept them all leashed
so we could check out anybody else in the area and figure out options.  I
was thrilled when we saw NOBODY, because once we reached the water's edge,
we let them all go.  And I swear, I could FEEL their doggy
excitement!!!!!!!!

Then ran and chased and - YES!  I swear it! - they "frolicked"  in their
fun.  All of a sudden Mojo was the chicken, fearful to walk over a pile of
cement bricks (not a good description, but the area was built up to combat
erosion).  Annie and Delilah crossed over quickly, but we had to go back
for Mojo and guide him down!  And the water!  The first couple of times it
splashed he jumped!

We leashed all three only once when we saw a lady walking towards us with
her dog, but once they'd passed the dogs were freed and all behaved running
on ahead!   They raced, they fetched sticks from the water, they drank the
water!  Yuck!  Our river is kind of gross...

At one point on the way back after we'd turned around, Annie got a little
ahead  and found some shade from a tree and laid down.  My poor couch
potato dog!!  Back at the cars, everybody had some fresh, clean water and
we loaded back up!

It was the best hour I've had in such a long time - just from watching my
dogs get to play FREE!!  Yeah, I had to bathe them both out back before
they could come in the house, but it was SO worth the effort!

We're going to do this again.  And again!  I may not be a total failure as
a dog owner, but it's obvious I could use some improvement!  Just ask Annie
and Mojo!!

Pam