Being so inspired I had pleaded with mom to take me for our own "Special Walk". And so mom and I finally found the time to go for a walk all by ourselves.
It was the very first time I've ever done that. We always walk together in a pack. King, Princess Mollydawg, mom and I. On rare occassions she will leave one of us with daddy and just take two of us. Sometimes she'll take Princess Mollydawg, but as long as I've been here, King & I never go alone. So guess what. She did it. She took me by myself. Here's how it went.
The phone rings. Usually when it rings at this time of day, it's dad calling mom to say he's about to leave the shop and she should begin now, if she's taking all three of us for a walk. So it's on with the harnesses, collars, doggie bags, treats (just in case) leads and sometimes Princess MollyDawg gets her saddle bags on. Sounds just fine right?
We all head out the door and off down the gently slopping road towards daddy's shop. It only takes 15 mins. It slopes all the way down and there's plenty of little areas where we can get our fill of doggy smells or meet people and their dogs as they walk the paths. Sometimes we cut through the nearby park area and add a few more minutes onto our walk. Still sounds perfectly fine right?
Sure that's what I thought as well. So off we go directly to daddy's shop. No stopping in between. No taking time for a good sniff. Just walk, walk, walk straight to daddy's shop. Hmmm, I thought this is a bit different. What's the change in plans? So we make it to the shop. Now normally this is where one of two things happen. We all pile in dad's truck and head home. Or P. Mollydawg and mom stay out and daddy takes King & I back home. It seems because The Princess is younger and has more energy she gets to go for a longer walk with mom afterwrds. We go back home to wait in the yard for mom and The Princess to come back home.
Well lo and behold, this day it was King and Princess Mollydawg who were loaded up in the truck. At first I felt very special. Today I was about to leave the pack and head out on my very own special journey with mom. I held my head high and pranced as I walked down Main St. with mom on our way to the trail leading back home. We had walked about 5 minutes when I stopped and looked back. There was no feeling of the closeness of another furry body walking beside me. My normal walking position is at Kings side. His presense was not there. Wait a minute. We seem to be walking uphill. Where did dad and the truck go? Where's Molly who usually leads the pack. I sat down and waited. Mom didn't seem worried at all. She held a tiny soft chewy in front of me and coaxed me back to my feet to follow her. Okay fine, it's different but I can do this. I'm the lone pack leader now. I picked up the pace and began to prance along again.
Another 5 minutes and my feet didn't want to prance anymore. I slowed to about a snails pace and let mom walk the length of my lead ahead of me. The entire time mom was chatting away to me. She stroked me from time to time and I could hear her words. "Oh you're so beautiful Duchess. What a good girl. You're so special. Look at the beautiful sky Duchess. The orange leaves are ever so sofly glistening in the sun..." On and on and on she rambled. I did like the walk, but, when would it end?
We met up with a lady who at first I thought I recognised. I barked and wiggled and waited till she came closer to smell her. Oh never mind, I don't know you. Off we plodded again. Mom tried several strategies to encourage me to walk a bit quicker. She talked in an excited voice. She stopped and hugged my neck. She used sentences that had words like, "home, daddy, King & Molly, house, drink and mat." I heard her but I just wanted to stop walking. I'm sure we walked for hours and hours all up the incredibly STEEP hill. Along the way I can smell all the usual familar smells and Iknow it's really not much further till we're HOME. For some reason it seems like an eternity. I try to remind myself of how inspired I had been. I pleaded with mom to take me for our own "Special Walk". Finally I can actually smell the fresh scent of King & P. Mollydawg and my very own yard! I only have to cross the road and we'll be home. I can do this. I pick up my pace and begin to prance once more towards my gate.
Horrahh! Now I can say I've done it. I went on my very own special walk.
Mom told dad,"Wow it took 30 minutes to come back. It's the nearby park for special, alone time walks from now on."
If I ever have to do it again, I'm demanding we take along a wagon in case I get tired.
In the end, this is my idea of "Sharing Peace, Companionship and a Special Place"
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