TheBanyanTree: Dog Day

[Sachet]

This is one of those fun stories that make you happily smile from 
picturing your energetic experience. Cissy woulda loved playing with 
Mojo & Annie.

On 6/1/2013 10:25 PM, Pam Lawley wrote:
> 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
>