His Dog And Him

"His dog and him" were the lyrics I heard in my head the other day while walking with my dog (see previous post). I sometimes hum or sing while I'm walking. Mr. Bojangles was the song in my head a couple days ago, but my long walk down Alga today really gave me the feeling of "my dog and me". Lots of cars and not enough sidewalk and NOBODY else walking, though we did see the occasional cyclist. I haven't gotten to the point where I need an IPod or Zune when I walk. Today is the second time I've walked over 10 miles in 8 hours, so that's saying something. I am looking forward to April when a truly sweat-resistant earpiece is scheduled to debut from Plantronics. I can see myself on the phone sometimes when I walk. I can also see myself passing the 400 mile mark sometime this weekend or early next week.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.

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Click to listen to Mr. Bojangles by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at Last.FM or here to read the lyrics.

My Dog And Me In The Morning

After getting a good night's sleep and having a good meeting with Peter and John, I was ready for a couple miles with Mellow, my dog. Mellow was plenty ready himself. He prefers to "express himself" in the prickly bushes or the clover and I've trained him to stop what he's doing when I utter "AAAH-AAAH". So he left the tall clover at my urging and did his little circle dance on the short grass before he did his thing and then we got on our way.

Mellow follows well with or without a lease and that makes it a lot easier. We see lots of people with their dogs and some of them are pretty poorly behaved. I understand why some people want to take in dogs who have been abused or who are doomed or both, like non-winning greyhounds. I don't understand why people choose dogs that are difficult on other people. One lady has a dog who clearly wants to tear Mellow apart. Others have dogs that get aggressive towards me. It seems like some dogs would be better off away from densely populated areas. I've even seen one woman with a stroller and two ill-mannered (to say the least) dogs. Her situation seems like an accident waiting to happen.

Perhaps I'm old-fashioned about this, but I think people should come first in this equation and if your dog isn't going to behave well around people, you need to keep your pet away from people. Should people have to keep getting out of the way because you made what amounts to a bad choice in dogs? Still, Mellow and I do our best to cross the street when the hostiles come near.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.