Austin has been trying to figure out a way to get out for more exercise. It's been challenging, because (understandably) he doesn't want to be on his own, and his schedule often collides with mine.
Occasionally, he will comment about how nice it would be to have a dog, and if we had a dog, he would probably take the dog for walks a lot. Well, we aren't eager to bring a dog into our family at this time. Recently, I countered one of these comments with, "Well, there's a dog right next door! Why don't you ask our neighbour if you can walk her dog during the day while she's at work?"
A few days ago, Austin went on a "training" walk with our neighbour, Allison, and her 7-year-old golden retriever, Ace. Allison talked about some of Ace's habits and some strategies she uses while walking with him. He was allowed off-leash for part of their hike.
Yesterday, Allison arranged with Austin for him to go to her house this morning and take Ace for a walk. I heard Austin say to her on the phone, "Sure, I'll put that into my calendar to do tomorrow." Austin had scheduled to take Ace out for a walk at 10:00am.
When I returned home around 9:00am, from dropping off A2 & A3 at their respective schools, I was surprised to find Austin already awake. He seemed a bit nervous and excited about his rendezvous with Ace. Austin explained to me that there were several things he was considering, including: did Allison remember to leave her door unlocked?, will Ace behave strangely/differently when Austin goes to his house when Allison isn't there?, how will Ace behave on the leash without Allison?
He couldn't wait until 10:00, and by 9:30 they were off. Austin said everything went without a hitch. He returned home at 11:15, absolutely beaming and animated. I laughed out loud as Austin described Ace's behaviour and mannerisms. This outing was the best medicine for both of them.
Here's an e-mail (dictated to me as I typed) that Austin sent to Allison, to let her know how things went on his first walk with Ace, alone:
"Hi Allison,
This is Austin.
Ace was amazing today. Really well behaved. A lot of slack leash and a lot of fun and exercise. We went down into the forest a bit and came back up, walked over to horse loop and walked horse loop, then came home. It was a really fun day and I'm looking forward to doing more walks with him.
We encountered a couple dogs who had been barking before we got there, and he was very well behaved around them. He didn't stiffen up or stop. He simply eyed them suspiciously.
We almost lost the ball in the biggest mud puddle on the walk. It was up to Ace's knees and about as big as your kitchen. He was fishing for the ball for at least five minutes. He tried going out and coming back in the way he came, possibly hoping it would pop back up where he lost it. I was amazed he actually found it in the end. I thought that ball was a goner. Since he had submerged his head up to his eyes, he looked like a raccoon dog. A very happy one, though!
The mud was washed off by the rain and I towelled him off after we got home.
At first, when he was off-leash in the forest, when I threw the ball, he would drop it and leave it where it landed and have me go get it. Then, I tried just leaving the ball and he would eventually pick it up and bring it onto the trail and drop it in front of me.
He also got to know that if my hand went near my pocket, that would mean we would play ball.
I suppose, since we had the ball today, he didn't want any sticks. I tried throwing him a couple sticks, but he wouldn't go get them.
If you would like to do another training walk with me, I would be happy to do that. Today, I will be available after around 6:15pm when Aidan gets home from his voice lesson.
I hope you're having a great day.
-@U$+!N"
