"Walking The Dog"

Wasn't that a title to a song back in "the day"?  No, I'm not writing about a song, but actually about walking the dog, and yes that would be the famous Buddy The Big Dog, my Golden Retriever.

I usually walk about a mile everyday...heat, cold, rain, wind, it doesn't matter...I'm kind of like the postman or woman(that's for all you feminist out there), I will go out in most any sort of weather, except when it starts lightening, and that's where I draw the line. Being struck by a bolt of lightening just isn't very appealing to me at this point in my life.

Buddy is my walking companion, he lives to do two things in life...fetch, and go for a walk.  As soon as he notices me heading for the door, he's up and ready to go, which sometimes presents a problem because every time I go to the door I'm not always headed out to go walk, but he doesn't seem to really care what my original plan is...he has his own plans.

He will patiently wait at the door for me to put his leash on him, all the while giving me a "hurry up" look, tail wagging ninety to nothing, anticipating his trip out into the world.  Albeit the world  as he knows it is only our neighborhood, but that doesn't seem to matter, he just knows he's getting to go explore, look at the surroundings, and dish out insults to other dogs.

Once outside he is all eyes and ears, looking around taking notice of everything that moves, or makes a noise.  He is a very well mannered when it comes to being on a leash, and by that I mean Buddy doesn't tug, or pull my arm out of socket dragging me around, but instead he stays right by my side.  Well that is until he finds just the perfect spot to mark his territory.

Evidently it's important for him to let other dogs know he's been there. I guess it's their way of saying  No Tresspassing,  Get bent, or something of that nature,(just read between the lines), which obviously doesn't work, because it's not long before another four legged hair ball will be claiming that same exact spot, expressing the same sentiments to some other unsuspecting dog.

I've often wondered how they know where the perfect spot is...I'm sure that in the area we walk in,  there have been numerous other dogs marking spots all over the place. So how the heck do you pick just the right one? You know... the one that will give the most "Bang for the Buck".

Buddy seems to have it down to a fine art, because there is no hesitation in his spot picking process, he is drawn to it like a magnet. So here I am standing there waiting while he's getting the satisfaction of telling some other dog "to get bent, this is my area".  Yes he just laid down an insult to some other neighborhood dog, and he seems to take great pride in that because it won't be 2 minutes later that he is laying down another insult, then another...

This could go on the whole walk if I let it, but he and I have come to an understanding on this matter...He gets 3 insults per walk to be used at his discretion anywhere along our route.  It took some time, and negotiation  for us to come to terms on this, but he seems to have accepted the fact that you can only insult so many in the course of a mile, and now Buddy has learned to use them wisely.

So now by the time the walk is over, he seems to be totally satisfied, and content, knowing that he has left his mark on the world...so to speak, or at least until one of his neighborhood friends leaves their mark on his mark, which means tomorrow he will be back re-marking his mark.  I think this definately could be considered a "Catch 22 " situation.