Get to a comfortable place....for someone else.

That smile.

I arrived at One Of A Kind Pets today, walked in the door and said, “who needs some exercise?”   I was instantly pointed towards Faith again.   After a few laughs, we hooked up the leash to the mini-tornado and took off towards the park to get in some exercise and bonding time.   

Faith definitely didn’t disappoint me with her level of enthusiasm for being outside in this wonderful weather.   Put this dog on a treadmill and I’m pretty sure that she could power a small town…..like Chicago.   Just like last time, we made lap after lap around, over, and through the park in whatever direction her nose took us.   We had an absolute blast together as we had no purpose or direction other than to let off some steam.   

While we were running around, Faith would occasionally grab onto the leash with her mouth and yank it along in a wonderfully playful manor.   This puppy was out, and able to be a puppy which was a ton of fun to see.   Occasionally, like any youngin’, play mode went into overdrive and became a bit much for the adult in charge to handle.   (Yes, hard to believe, but the “adult in charge” is me.)   A tug on the leash only encouraged her more.   A “no” or a “hey” didn’t cut the mustard either.   I started wondering how long before my arm gets longer like Stretch Armstrong.   

As she tugged, played, and whirled around, I bent down towards Faith and pondered offering her a treat.   It turns out, I didn’t need the treat to change what was happening.   As soon as I started to get down to her level, she went from “play like a wild animal” mode to “cuddle” mode light a switch was turned.   Almost instantly she was sitting next to me and begging for scratches and attention.   I was blown away.   You knew it was the same dog as she had the same playful, loving look, but her actions were completely different   It was almost uncanny.  

Of course we had to snuggle, have scratches, and petting time, but I kept in mind that this is a puppy and we still needed to burn off a fair bit of energy!    Time to run!!!   We took off in a flash across the park again only to come to a sudden stop as we found a stick that looked like a lot of fun to play with.   

Besides me, do you have a friend that does things that may not make sense, but they do it just to prove that they can?   Yeah…..that’s this dog.   She picked up and carried this stick/large chunk of a tree around for 5 minutes and had a blast doing so.   Everytime she picked it up, I was given a look like “See. I’m impressive, aren’t I?”.   Yes…...Yes she is.   The whole time, we both grinned from ear to ear.  

Walk quickly and drag along a big stick

It was easy to see what Faith was trying to teach me tonight.   When I stood there and said things, she pretty much ignored me.   It’s like I was just an anchor at the other end of the leash.   As soon as I got to her height, things changed instantly.   It’s not that we were on different levels.   That’s not it at all.   What I realized is that it helps to have an association.   Stand there like a post, and you’ll get treated like one.   Don’t expect things to come to you.   Get involved with people and animals where they are comfortable, and they will love you for it.