Walking the dog - or not
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
As I said yesterday – I am really hoping to be back on Spark regularly – I miss so much about daily contact here – and so does my body.
This is Bollie.
I used to walk the this Staffie, Bollie – short for Bollinger - from the local pub, fairly regularly – partly because I love her a lot and partly because it was good for extra movement in the day – for her and for me. I’m the world’s worse at sinking into the sofa if I have nothing specific to do. Sadly, her owners decided ultimately that they would hand her walks over to a local Dog Walking company to save scheduling problems. Made me sad and took away my impetus to walk more.
Right now I’m having a hard time finding time for long walks due to my partner’s illness and the regular care and attention he needs, so I can’t spare the time for my Walking Group. I can feel that it is affecting my well-being in ways I don’t much like.
This is Esme – my grandsons’ puppy.
Don’t think I’ve posted her photo before but may have mentioned I had her to stay a while ago when she was really tiny because her family were driving from the South of England to far North of Scotland for a wedding and she was too young to go with them - or to go kennels. She’s a dear little dog – a Pug/Shih Tszu cross (PugTszu apparently) bred for a gentle nature and as a good companion for children. We had a great time together – and as I live in a flat and she was so young, I had to walk her in the gardens outside many times a day for her ‘personal needs’. The gardens are very pretty with a great view of the sea, so along with her sweet nature I enjoyed it all very much and met lots of new people - walking THEIR dogs. I also found that regular short walks throughout the day suited me well and I felt much perkier while she was with me. This last week I saw a dog walker whom I got to know when walking Esme and he was looking to see where she was running. ‘Oh,’ said I jokingly – I’m just pretending to walk her – she’s gone home.’ And then I thought – actually I really could stick with that routine and do regular 15 minute walks as a longer one is not always possible at the moment because my partner needs me. So I now call out as I leave my flat 3 or 4 times a day –‘just going to walk the dog’ and my partner regularly asks on my return - ‘Did Esme enjoy her walk?’ Otherwise now known as' doing an Esme'.
Madness, I know – but it suits me and keeps me moving. Anything that does that HAS to be a good thing.