Patience

As many of you know, I’m recovering (slowly) from a kind of kinked up body. Nothing is damaged permanently, just out of whack and I’ve been put on leashed-walk rest for the next 4-6 weeks. While this may seem like a simple task, it’s proving to be very difficult for me because I am, as Gretchen likes to point out, a dog with a strong Play Drive. It’s true. I’d much rather play than do anything else and for me, play involves tug, chase, and playing fetch.

I can’t do any of that now and I’m growing rather impatient, which makes it kind of hard when we go walking with our dog clients. You see, I want to play so when Ollie bubbles up to me in his happy way, I want to roll over and wrestle. When Rosie invites me to chase with a play bow, I want to take off running (without a leash) and turn and pivot just out of her reach. When Gertie playfully punches me with her nose wanting me to chase her, I want to take her up on the offer by punching her back (gently) with my paw. And when Gemma and Saber start to go at it with each other, I want to jump into the fray and join the game.

But I can do none of that now (or in the near future) and I’m realizing that I must practice the art of patience.

Frankly, I’m not very good at it. I’m getting better, but today I had to pull out all my patience-abilities with every dog we walked.

First, there was Ollie and I had to be really, really patient (so did he) when we passed the off-leash dog park and didn’t stop to play. Oh, and we had to be patient while Gretchen got these photos of us on a park bench in, well, the park!

Next, I got to walk with Rosie and my patience sort of got lost when we sat in the big field for our photo. Rosie wondered what on earth I was up to, but then I settled down and we got really close. We’re kind of cute, aren’t we?

Gertrude was next and let me tell you, she takes a lot of my patience. I don’t think that girl can walk a straight line and boy, is it ever tempting to follow her down her wild path when she gets moving.

On top of it, Gretchen took us down to the lake where this sign still sits…

…talk about needing patience! Both Gertie and I love to swim and we were not allowed to even put our feet in the water. ARGH!

Next up were Gemma and Saber. By this time, I was feeling kind of worn out (it takes a lot of energy to be patient!) so Gretchen walked us up the hill and then back around to our house where the three of us posed on the porch…well, two of us did our best…Saber just kept waiting for the door to open so he could race through the house to the backyard and play. Not today, buddy!

And once I was inside the house, I had to be patient for Gretchen’s return and then patiently watch her load up her stuff for work at the pool and patiently wait for her to come home…Jeez! my patience has truly been tested today.

Until tomorrow,

Rubin