At the end of the evening, as friends prepared to leave my house, they proposed a walk through the neighborhood to get their dogs out. I declared that Sasha had been so slow lately and would be a major drag as we climbed the big hill. Better to let Edwin just take her for a slow crawl around the block.
As I prepared to leave, Sasha pawed at my leg and wagged her tail.
“Oh, fine. But you better not stop every five seconds.”
As we stepped into the night air, I decided to keep her off-leash for most of the walk, hoping this would encourage her to keep up with the pack.
Sasha did not disappoint. She trotted along at a brisk pace, and when we picked up her friend, Drexel, she maintained her clip as we started up the big hill.
When we reached our destination, their friend, Roxy, bounded out of her house, and the three of them raced around the backyard in a blur of fur and tails. Sasha slowed down after a bit (after all, she is nearly 12 and the others are around four and two years old), but she managed to keep up with her pal on our way back down the hill.
By the time we reached our block, she had slowed to her typical crawl. I think she was mostly just bored by this point and back on the leash.
I guess it’s all a state of mind.
My Corner of the Village 