Wonders of the Dog World

Some days are just like this. You have it all planned out — which dogs to walk when, how long it takes to get from one place to the next, you even take into account unforeseen circumstances. But on days like this one, when the wind kicks up and your tail flies in the breeze, all those plans just blow right out the window.

Okay, it wasn’t that bad. We did alright meeting up with our clients when we said we would, but in the end, we’re the ones who pay for it, who pay for all that hustling around trying to make it up the block or down the block fast enough to rescue said dog clients from any unnecessary accidents (if you know what I mean). It can take a lot out of you all this running around, so much so that often you forget to appreciate what a sweet little gig we have. I mean, who else gets to play with dogs all day AND get paid for it?

Yes indeed. We are a rare and lucky breed the dog dog walkers of the world, but today I earned my kibble.  Actually, I don’t really like kibble so let me rephrase. Today I earned my canned food and fresh chicken!

The day started out at school. I accompanied Gretchen to her teaching job and was met by some very enthusiastic students.  They were all very happy to see me and I, too, was pretty excited.  They like to love me and being the good dog that I am, I let them. It might sound like an easy job, but let’s just say, all those grimy 10 year old hands coming at you can get a bit overwhelming. I, of course, handle it all with my best canine graces. It’s exhausting, I tell you, but I couldn’t complain lying there getting belly rubs all morning. 

The real work began when we high-tailed it down the street to pick up Saber. Yep, Saber in the morning. We’re trying to help out the tired parents so some days we walk Saber twice a day. Today was the first day and he was very surprised to see us. But we didn’t come alone! Nope, we brought Ollie with us and for Saber, that was a really treat. The two of them walked me home so I could rest up a bit (after my morning as a teacher dog) and they headed off to the tennis courts for fun and games. Actually, for fun and tricks. Ollie practiced leaping (as you can see from the photo above) and Saber practiced balancing the ball on his nose.

It looks like they had fun and given the rest of the day we had, I wasn’t the least bit jealous that they got to play without me!

Saber walked Ollie home and then headed back to his house to rest up for the afternoon walk.  Gretchen hoofed it back up the street to pick up Rosie who was thrilled and delighted to see her. She has this way of curling her very short tail around when she sees Gretchen that Gretchen particularly likes. Hope one day she can get a picture of it. The two of them walked back towards Ollie’s house because Gretchen realized she’d dropped one of her leashes there. Of course, it afforded her the perfect opportunity to get some Rosie in the Flower shots as well as spend some time trying to teach Rosie to shake paws.

As you can see, Rosie’s all about the treats. She’s still working on the shaking part! Still, she’s really cute!

After Rosie went home, Gretchen picked up Bella who is, apparently, very excited about the wind. They walked some, but Bella was very energetic so to burn some of that off, they came by to pick up me. We played for a bit in the backyard, but then headed to the tennis courts so we could really stretch our legs!

Once Bella had her tongue hanging out, Gretchen and I worked with her on heel as we walked through the park watching the dark clouds race across the sky.  Hey, I just realized, Bella’s kind of like a gray cloud on a windy day. Whoosh!

Bella went home tired and flopped right into her crate where she sucked on her peanut butter toy while Gretchen and I headed back down the street to pick up Saber.  He was as thrilled to see us this afternoon as he was in the morning. We walked the long way home (around the park) and then played in the backyard with wild abandon. I’m not sure what got into me, but I felt it necessary to teach Saber to do laps around the yard. He loved it. Heck, I loved it!

Then it was time for Saber to go to his next job while I stayed home and rested. Yep, Saber has a new job (and he’s so young). Every afternoon he goes to the local elementary school to hopefully meet up with a young boy who is having a few difficulties in school.  If the boy has had a good day, he gets to walk Saber and teach him tricks. If it’s not such a good day, well, he just gets to say hello to Saber and then head back to class. Yesterday was a good day and the two of them played and had fun. The boy taught Saber how to roll over and Saber taught the boy how to wrestle.

Today, unfortunately, wasn’t a good day so the boy had to explain what went wrong, while Saber listened. “I got frustrated,” said the boy, “and slammed my fist down.”

“Oh,” said Saber. “Maybe next time take 5 deep breaths. It works for me!”

“Good idea,” said the boy. “I’m going to try that tomorrow!”

“Yippee, yippee, yippee,” Saber danced around as he sang. “Then I’ll get to play with you! Yippee!”

It appears the two of them have become fast friends. I hope we get to see the boy tomorrow. He’s very sweet.

But today Gretchen had to walk Saber home after our short visit and then walk home to get me so we could up to pick up Alice for our last walk of the day. Alice barks at us when we first arrive, but then she totally gets excited that we’re there to see her. Today we went for an extra long walk partly because those dark clouds I mentioned earlier were now threatening and Gretchen had a feeling that neither Alice nor I would get a walk later in the evening.

So up to the ridge we went where we sat pretty while Gretchen tried different settings on her still rather new camera. Can you see the clouds moving in? Of course, the really dark, threatening ones aren’t in the picture, but trust me, they’re there.

In fact, they opened up about an hour ago and have been pouring down on us like steel hammers ever since. Yes, a mighty full day. Tomorrow is even busier, if you can imagine. The wonders of the dog world will continue, I suppose and we’ll be there to capture them in both words and pictures as best we can.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin