Dog walking used to take Baxter and me for hours long hikes to Kal Lake Provincial Park, just up the hill from home. Time, though, has taken its toll on dog and walker and we now drive to the bottom of the hill to Creekside Park. Baxter needs a ramp to get in and out of the truck but he still does his oh-boy-I'm-going-out dance when I make a move toward the truck keys.
Dog walking can be a nice solitary break where part of your mind can wander or one can watch the ways of the Canada Geese as they ready their young for the trip south. Since Baxter doesn't have a lot to say and is busy scenting out previous travellers, the walk is really a time to think, without problem solving - just a free ranging mind wander that really is a healthy defrag of the musty old files.
The dog park has become busier with old guys and their dogs so the dog walk has also become an opportunity to crab about the politicians at all levels of government and their abysmal lack of common sense; lack of empathy for the people that they are supposed to represent; lack of consideration for the problems common people have in providing for their families; and all those things. Weather is the next best topic. Of course, the dog park is not restricted to men. Women also walk dogs but really, it's like the men's barber shop, when a woman walks in, meaningful man talk stops.
Baxter, however, has found a girlfriend there. He is a Turkish Akbash cross and we bumped into a woman with a female Akbash, Tia. There really is something to species recognition because the first time that Tia saw Baxter, she just went bananas, which she just doesn't do with other dogs. Several meetings later, she got just too rambunctious and pushy so Baxter gave her a snarl and poor Tia was just terribly hurt. You could see the surprise in her face. All is back to normal now. Tia is still smitten and Baxter is playing hard to get.
When Baxter came to us, I was still in the decade of my fifties, and despite mobility handicaps, we could still put in a couple of hours of good exercise. Eleven years later, dog walking has become more of a shuffle for both of us. The spirit is willing but the follow-through is limited.
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