It is a sad thing for me to admit but after yesterday’s folly with my bulldog Spot’s refusal to entertain any thoughts of a boring walk anywhere other than a beach, I’ve concluded two things. 1. He runs my life. And 2: Perhaps he is getting too old to be taking for walks all over the Niagara Peninsula. “Take me to the beach or don’t take me anywhere,” seems to be his mantra as of late. When I don’t take him anywhere he runs both of us ragged in the apartment with his toy.
Take these last few weekends. For the past seven + years I have taken him every morning to a park where we have met scads of people with various and sundry breeds of dogs. Over the years some have passed on – dog and owner – while others have remained the same. And every morning Spot was there, hopping and twirling around, being his normal saucy self bugging everyone for treats.
At times I’ve been so embarrassed with his antics I have brought THE toy along (a Cuz toy with feet) which acted as a diet pill. As long as he had the toy he wouldn’t bother with treats, he’d just run and run as I chased after him. Lately I noticed that rather than running around with the toy he would go off into the shade and chew on the feet. It might have been helping his diet by still not eating treats but he certainly wasn’t getting the exercise. I gave up bringing the toy, and he has taken to shortening the walk by dropping back from we humans and cutting across the field, thus covering far less ground than what he used to. Oh, he still jumps and hops and twirls but not in the incessant way that he always did.
But back to these past few weekends. Puppies have shown up. And what do these puppies do? They bug Spot. They hop and twirl around him and because he is rather short and stubby they find his bum the easiest bum in the pack to sniff. My boy has no patience for this and with a snarl he tries to warn them off. Puppies don’t often listen. So with patience gone and ears pinned back, Spot heads out of the park and down the street to his old house where his ‘auntie Carolyn’ soothes his feeling with treats.
Yesterday and today were washouts at the park. He had to be coaxed into and coaxed around the perimeter. Once he got to the gate at the far end of the park and closest to the street where his old house is, he sat and would go no further. I took him down the street and left him at with Carolyn while I went and retrieved the car.
Of course I tell everybody it is just the puppies. Well, I do believe that is one of the reasons, the other is that he really is getting older and the long morning walks are getting too much for him. Yet when we get back to the apartment and he gets his toy he’s a young lad again. Alas, he can’t go on until noon like he used to and seems to be quite happy with fifteen minutes of foolish play then half an hour or more of snoozing.
Me thinks he is trying to teach me something. Heck, what’s wrong with a morning snooze now and then? Afternoon naps are good to. Just ask him.
Take these last few weekends. For the past seven + years I have taken him every morning to a park where we have met scads of people with various and sundry breeds of dogs. Over the years some have passed on – dog and owner – while others have remained the same. And every morning Spot was there, hopping and twirling around, being his normal saucy self bugging everyone for treats.
At times I’ve been so embarrassed with his antics I have brought THE toy along (a Cuz toy with feet) which acted as a diet pill. As long as he had the toy he wouldn’t bother with treats, he’d just run and run as I chased after him. Lately I noticed that rather than running around with the toy he would go off into the shade and chew on the feet. It might have been helping his diet by still not eating treats but he certainly wasn’t getting the exercise. I gave up bringing the toy, and he has taken to shortening the walk by dropping back from we humans and cutting across the field, thus covering far less ground than what he used to. Oh, he still jumps and hops and twirls but not in the incessant way that he always did.
But back to these past few weekends. Puppies have shown up. And what do these puppies do? They bug Spot. They hop and twirl around him and because he is rather short and stubby they find his bum the easiest bum in the pack to sniff. My boy has no patience for this and with a snarl he tries to warn them off. Puppies don’t often listen. So with patience gone and ears pinned back, Spot heads out of the park and down the street to his old house where his ‘auntie Carolyn’ soothes his feeling with treats.
Yesterday and today were washouts at the park. He had to be coaxed into and coaxed around the perimeter. Once he got to the gate at the far end of the park and closest to the street where his old house is, he sat and would go no further. I took him down the street and left him at with Carolyn while I went and retrieved the car.
Of course I tell everybody it is just the puppies. Well, I do believe that is one of the reasons, the other is that he really is getting older and the long morning walks are getting too much for him. Yet when we get back to the apartment and he gets his toy he’s a young lad again. Alas, he can’t go on until noon like he used to and seems to be quite happy with fifteen minutes of foolish play then half an hour or more of snoozing.
Me thinks he is trying to teach me something. Heck, what’s wrong with a morning snooze now and then? Afternoon naps are good to. Just ask him.
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