Variety is the Spice

We’ve shifted gears here at Wags n’ Words. We’re transitioning from our life with children to our life with dogs. You might think I’m happy about it and in many ways I am, but I will miss the children for many reasons, but chief among them is because they loved me. They loved me so much they made a clay statue of me (seen here on Gretchen’s laptop)…

I am enamored with this statue. It smells funny and amazingly looks a lot like me only a smaller version. I can’t keep my eyes off of it…

But we’re transitioning away from these days as Gretchen truly, this time for real, leaves teaching. I tell her they’ll be other opportunities she won’t want to pass up, but she assures me that life with dogs is now her calling. And the way business is booming these days, a life with dogs is exactly what she’ll get.

Today wasn’t booming, but that was okay because yesterday was and tomorrow is as well. Yesterday there were 7 dogs to walk (not including me) and tomorrow there are 8 (not including me). But today there were just 4 and that was a needed reprieve.

First up was Rosie and in keeping with the idea that variety adds spice to your life, Gretchen decided to play a new game with Rosie. As you may well know if you are an avid follower of my Dog Blog, Rosie is a bird hunter. Swallows are her favorite and as the grass around here grows like wheat, the swallows are every where chasing the bugs in the open fields. There’s one field in particular where the swallows swarm like locusts. Rosie knows this field well and whenever they approach it, she goes on high alert. If swallows appear, it’s almost impossible to make any forward progress, so lately Gretchen’s been avoiding the field.

But not today. Today Gretchen packed the long line and walked right over to that field. Rosie was thrilled! Gretchen hooked her up and then they waited for the swallows.

While the swallows came and played a bit, they didn’t play as much as usual. Still Rosie had a blast and, as you can see, got kind of foamy at the mouth with excitement. I think this is going to be a game they play every once in awhile!

Gretchen came home and got me so we could go to Alice’s house. Alice got moved from Monday to Thursday this week and so she was surprised to see us when we came into the house. But she was more than happy to go on a walk. Her variety came in our destination. We headed to the lake, but since we don’t have a ton of time, we only got to visit, much to our dismay!

Still we had fun and maybe one day, when we are so busy, we’ll go for a swim. I think Alice might be quite the swimmer. We’ll have to see sometime soon!

Gemma and Saber were next. Gemma was sound asleep on the couch when we marched up the stairs, but she stretched and yawn when she saw us. “Finally,” she said, “I was wondering if you were ever going to get here!”

This is a distinctly different greeting than what we get from Saber who is often also asleep in his kennel. He yawns and says, “Is it that time already?”

While variety would have been piling in the car and going to the dog park or down to Seward Park, we simply changed tennis courts. That’s because it was kind of warm and while we had more time today, Gretchen wanted to rest up from yesterday and for tomorrow so an extended walk just wasn’t in the cards. Still, we had fun and at times, we had to work for our fun patiently practicing our sit/stays.

By the time we were done, all three of us were wiped out. Our tongues hung to the side of our open mouths long and happy. While variety adds spice to our lives, it can also wear a guy out…well, variety and transitions. Tomorrow is our last day of school. I’m gonna make sure we bring that clay statue home to remind myself of my life as a teacher!

Until tomorrow,

Rubin