Keeping Up

And just like that, it’s September. Another month gone by, another month arrived. And our work here at Wags n’ Words keeps moving forward. New billing statements to create, photos to print, billing to send out, deposits to make, schedules to update and tweak, and an accounting of all the miles traveled and the stories told. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up. I’m lucky because while I get to tell all the stories, Gretchen does most of the business work.

Well, that’s partially true. I do the business of walking and making certain our canine clients are entertained. And trust me, sometimes it’s hard to keep up with my end of the job. Today I am particularly tired after a full schedule and while I didn’t work on all the walks, my paws are tired and my bones are heavy.

This Wednesday started, as they always do, with my friend, Monty. We went for a nice long walk up along the ridge and checked out all the scents and sights we hadn’t seen for awhile. That’s because Gretchen took a different route, which is fine by me because frankly I sometimes get bored with the same old, same old.

Not Monty! He’s just happy to be out in the open air, greeting canine and human alike. Of course, about halfway through the day, he gets tired, too and has an equally hard time keeping up. But before he got to the tired part, Gretchen had other dogs to walk while Monty and I ate brunch and lounged a bit before the afternoon walks.

First for Gretchen were Oshi and Perrito. She had to laugh when I told that my topic for the day was “Keeping Up” because walking Oshi and Perrito is all about Oshi keeping up and all of them making forward progress. These photos were, in fact, taken on the other side of the block (they went around the block on the start of their walk) at the house just behind theirs. Ironically, it took them 13 minutes to make it around the block! Why? Oshi dawdles and Perrito zig-zags sniffing and smelling every spot that looks even remotely curious. They’ve been around that block hundreds of times, but each time is as unique as can be!

As you can see, on a 30 minute walk, it’s hard to make any forward progress with these two.

The same can be said, I suppose, for Rosie. Some days she’s raring to go and can extend their route significantly. Other days she gets distracted. Today she was distracted by other dogs at the park, but look at her! She did a great job “staying” while the dogs passed. Good girl, Rosie!

Gemma is all about forward progress and half the time, Gretchen and I are just trying to keep up with her. So it was today. She came by to pick up Monty and me and over to the tennis courts we walked to play some fetch. She kept us busy, stealing our balls and biting at our legs. Plus the courts were rather warm and so Monty and I found little spots of shade in which to rest.

Then it was time for Saber and since Monty was pooped by this point, I said I’d take care of wearing the big guy out! So we played tug and body slam in the backyard while Monty watched from inside the cool house.

And then we went for a nice long walk back to Saber’s house. The last quarter-mile home from Saber’s was a struggle for me. I was as pooped as Monty and so we rested on the cool bamboo floors while Gretchen cleaned up the house a bit, changed the sheets, and encouraged me to finish my blog.

“Hey, Gretchen! It’s done!”

Until tomorrow…hope you can all keep up!

Rubin