THE WALK

Ever since Riley dropped into my life last September, I have become reacquainted with walking. It is no longer a matter of exercise, but of survival. Any activity which has the potential of wearing a puppy out is to be undertaken as often as possible. I now know most of my neighbors and their animal companions.

Sometimes a walk is just a walk. Then there was our walk two days ago which turned into a play date. We left the house, walked 4 houses down, and stopped to say hello to the schnauzers (Maggie and Scooter) who were also on their walk. We then proceeded around the corner and stopped to say hello to Milo, the English Bull dog puppy who was working on puppy obedience with his person. Further on, a car pulled up beside us and said "he looks like my dogs!"

"Do you have a boston terrier?" I asked smiling back. "Three of them", he said.

"You must be the house down the street, I have seen them in your yard and wondered how it was that we had never met."

Next thing I know, the gentlemen had pulled up to his house, waited for me to get there, scooped Riley up and let him lavish kisses all over his face. Riley is a jack russell terrier in a boston coat on Red Bull. Holding him is not an easy task and I was immediately impressed with the skill our new friend used to make it look easy. He then opened the door to announce to his wife that there was a boston outside so she came out immediately and we repeated steps one and two except she, being a small person, had better sense than to try to actually lift Riley off the ground. A few moments later, the front door was opened and 3 boston terriers popped out and circled Riley. It was the most delightful sea of little black and white dogs. Riley now had 3 new friends to join Scooter and Maggie - Oscar, Butler and Casey! Casey could jump straight up from the ground to my neck and I'm about 5' 8" tall. We hung out on their front porch for about 20 minutes before parting as friends and my lamenting that I would never be able to walk by their house again without being pulled up the driveway.

Making the turn for home, we encountered Lucy, the basset hound - another new friend. Lucy pulled his owner across the street with the agility of a puppy but I was later to learn that she was 7! Whoever said 7 was senior had not been around too many 7 year olds. Lucy and Riley romped to the extent possible on leashes in a larger corner lot for another 10 minutes.

Finally, heading back up our cul-de-sac, my next door neighbors who adore Riley were waiting on the front porch for pats and biscuits.

We came inside, Riley drank the water bowl dry and promptly went to sleep.

The morale of this very different blog entry? Take a walk! You never know who or what you will meet!