Daily Walks

The dogs love to go on their daily walks. Sometimes, obviously, we cant go on the walk for one reason or another, and it really makes them sad. You can tell. They watch your every move to see when you might go to get the leashes. Besides knowing that they need their exercise everyday, I walk them for a few personal reasons too. One being that I need my own exercise. I am getting more and more out of shape, and sometimes I get very discouraged that I am not in the same shape I was when I danced 24/7. The other reason being that I want a life in my own house. I want to be able to move around, or lay on the couch. We cant really do anything when they have pent up energy. They are either running around after each other and I'm screaming because I think they are going to knock stuff over, or they are staring at us wondering why we are laying down instead of taking them on a walk. With that said, we try to walk them everyday so that we can relax when we get back and enjoy or evenings.

I like it when Mr. Hunt walks with me. It isn't very hard to walk both at the same time, but it is definitely easier to walk just one, Plus I like the company. The only difference when Mr. Hunt walks with me is that when I walk alone, I try to power walk and get some sort of workout. When Mr. Hunt walks with us, he strolls along and lets the dogs sniff EVERYTHING. I don't think they get as tired as they do when we power walk together. Anyway, I would rather not get my exercise and have Mr. Hunt walk with us.

Whether you are walking River, Hannah, or both you get three very different experiences. As soon as Mr. Hunt or I reach for the leashes and they hear it or see it, they are bouncing off the walls. They run to the front door and cant sit still. We refuse to put the leashes on until they sit so sometimes it takes awhile at the front door, especially for Hannah. River usually sits first, so we put his leash on. Then Hannah decides that she wants to eat Rivers leash and make her famous noises. We ignore her and finally she sits so that she can have a leash too.

River:
River is a very good walker. He hardly ever pulls on the leash (we have the retractable leashes, so they can go 15 feet in front). As soon as the retractable leash stops and he knows he has gone to far, he slows down or stops and waits for us to catch up. He likes to sniff alot. When he gets a good scent it is hard to pull him (96 lbs) away from it, especially if you have Hannah in the other hand. For the most part, River is very easy to walk.

Hannah:
Hannah is very hard to walk. She cannot walk in a straight line. She zig-zags everywhere. If River is smelling something, she HAS to smell it too. She runs in front until the leash stops, and then pulls you along. When she sees people (especially moving people like people on bikes, roller blades, skateboards, and especially if they are running) she will stop first and look at them. Then all of the sudden when you are least expecting it, she starts chasing them. Not only does the person usually get scared because she didn't initially look like she was going to run after them, but it scares me too because I have to pull her back with the leash. Phew. She walks while she goes poop so it is so hard to clean up. I have to pick up five little pieces in a row instead of one mound. Then she kicks the grass behind her after she finishes. (side note: The other day there was a lady walking behind us and the dogs we very curious to meet her so I was trying to walk fast so that we could get far enough ahead. Hannah stopped to poop (walking of course) and I bent down to pick it up to early. She kicked the grass and dirt all over my head, in my face, and in my hair. I bet the lady behind us was laughing to herself) I think Hannah is just too happy with her life that she cant get enough of her walks. She pants with excitement like she has been walking a mile as soon as we leave the house.

Both:
Both isn't as bad as you may think. The hardest part is when one is sniffing something, and the other is walking ahead, sometimes my arms almost feel like they are going to get pulled out of their sockets. Also trying to not let the leashes get tangled. With Hannah zig-zagging, she tangles up the leashes easily. Sometimes I have to twirl around (do a little dance) to get them untangled. Lastly, when one goes around one side of a mailbox or pole, and the other doesn't. I have to try to fix that before they pull the leash out of my hand.

Mr. Hunt likes to walk River even though he knows it is more difficult to walk Hannah. He says he does that because he doesn't want people to see us walking our dogs and think that he made me walk the bigger dog, while he is walking the smaller dog. I just smile and agree, I guess it would look a little funny if I saw that too. Sometimes though if we start to walk by little kids on bikes or people fishing, Mr. Hunt will switch with me and take Hannah.

I really think the dogs look forward to us coming home just so they can go on walks. I look forward to it too especially in nice cooler weather like today. Soon it is going to be dark by the time we get home. Then I will definitely need Mr. Hunt to walk with me.

I wonder if someone were trying to attack me if Hannah and River would try to make friends, or protect me?