My Parents Disgust Me

When my dog goes on a walk she revels in the beautiful air and surroundings finally available to her after a sulking day of lounging on the furniture.  I let her smell everything, poop and pee on everything, and spend as much time as she needs on any one spot of earth.

So when I go on a walk with my parents it saddens me when I see them walk a constant pace and never allow my puppy the time of day to sniff and awe at the world she sees but once or twice a day.  They'll yank her, yell at her, throw her around.  I can't help but hold my anger in--they walk for exercise, I walk for beauty.

Have You Ever Tried...

..letting your dog take you for a walk?

If you give in to it, you'll notice how refreshing it is.  You have to get past the fact that it isn't a simple exercise routine and realize how your dog perceives it.

It's a frolic through the city of scents, an adventure through lands where many like dogs have tread and marked their own spot and a devious opportunity to say "off with their piss!" and lay down a nice stream of karma.

It's slow, but once you get used to it you might not want to go back to being ignorant and hasty.

If you've ever read Plato's 'The Cave'...yes, exactly like that.

So go ahead, please, let your domestications relish in the way they could only be naturally selected towards.  You might even find yourself relishing as well, with a little ketchup, some onions and peppers and some good old Dijon mustard, too.

There Will Be Much Mindless Gnashing Of Teeth

I have just returned from a walk with my brother.  We take care of one of our neighborly--elderly couple's dog (Boo) twice a week and give them a long walk, on which I brought our little Labrador bitch alongside.  I noticed a few things, which I will put into delicious list style.

1)  Halfway through, I finally realized what Maddie was doing--she would always try to run ahead of us to get to the fresh smells first.

2)  Being ahead, she would sometimes get so caught up in her world that when she finally snapped to reality (a.k.a. realized there were three beings behind her) she would immediately pounce towards Boo, attempt to gnaw violently on one of her front paws, and then launch back towards the front of the pack.  And I mean LAUNCH.

3)  Whenever we would have an encounter with another neighborhood dog I would have to yank and pull Maddie until she knew that we didn't need her fooling around anymore.  Once she hurriedly groveled alongside us she would look up at us, longingly perhaps, asking us in her head "you still love me guys, right?".  Regardless of any acknowledgement she would set her gaze again towards the front of the pack.


Do you read your dog's mind?  Feel free to comment, I'd love to know I'm not the only one.