Friday, November 7, 2008

A Walk in the Park {by Erin}

The weather around here has been AWESOME lately, so Midnight, Bubbles and I have been hitting the parks for our exercise. Midnight is such a laid back puppy, that its really easy to neglect giving her proper excersise; but am trying to mend my ways and get BACK to the everyday walk.....long walk.
This week we went to a park, that was converted from car race track, and now has a huge kid play area, skating rink, volley ball court, and a bike track; as well as a walking path that goes around the outside of the park and joins to another park right beside this one. Yesterday, my friend Justine, and her dog Bandit joined us for our walk; I was prepared to work with Bandit, as he does not do so well on a leash; but its a good thing he decided to walk perfectly, because I had my hands full with Midnight!
Since she is a guide dog puppy, she is supposed to walk, with her back legs aligned with my legs. But according to Cesar Millan, she needs to walk with her head level with my leg...so its hard to get her out of her normal position, and let me lead. Especially with all the new sights and sounds of the park. So she was pulling pretty hard..for Midnight nose in the air, not paying attention to me whatsoever. (where are the treats when you need them?)
Midnight demoing new leash
{Proper Guide Dog Puppy Position-Midnight four months old}
By the our second lap, she was responding to corrections and slowing some; But after an hour, Justine and I called it quits, and collapsed in my car. Bubbles was walking perfectly btw.
Today.... I had my siblings with me, so my sister and I walked the bike track so as to keep an eye on the younger ones. Since the path was just a monotonous circle, Midnight settled down quickly and walked nicely on a loose leash. *whew*
So to put in our memory banks for puppy #4, TIP #324: work on out-of-coat, walking in new environments.
After that we got something to eat, walked around the mall and headed home. There is nothing like a tired dog. Makes me feel good to know that she has been able to release some of that excess energy.
Evan and Midnight
More pictures of our trip to the park: Click Here

2 comments:

Raising Addie said...

Great pictures Erin!

You are very talented!

Kisses
Addie

kishiko said...

Hi Erin!
Wow! I saw the pictures on your blog! Veeery Beautiful!!!
I am interested your exercise very much. Good luck to you and Midnight! wags wags
Matilda