My Wild Welsh Wee Beastie

We had another pretty day today, the first one where we’ve been home and had the time to take one of our longer walks.  When the weather is cold and it gets dark so early in the evening and stays dark later in the morning we tend to stick a little closer to home, either taking the long loop around the edge  of our neighborhood, around the neighborhood next to ours, or the two combined together.  With it being so lovely outside today I decided to shake things up and try a new route, which completely threw my little man for a loop.

It struck me while we were walking that there are several definite stages to our walks.  We don’t always hit all of them, but we generally hit most of them.  Today, with us going a new way, I almost think I noticed a new one. The ‘are you sure about what were doing and where we’re going?’ stage. He sort of gave me a look that questioned if I was going to be expecting him to find our way back home.  It cracked me up how concerned he was that I didn’t have a handle on things.  New experience having your dog doubt you!
I was able to capture some of our walk ‘stages’, so with out further ado I present – A Walk with Wee Beastie…

Starting out and happy to be on a walk...

1. Starting Out. It really depends on the weather, the time of day, and his mood, but most of the time he is thrilled to be out and about so he happily leads the way.

Are you still back there?

2. Checking In. For our daily walks that are meant to let him do his business, check things out, and get our exercise, I let him have fairly free rein on his flexi-lead unless there is a reason I need him close and under control (like crossing street, etc).  This way he can sniff, explore, and set his own pace.  Every once in a while when he gets well out in front of me, he’ll take a quick look back over his shoulder to make sure I’m still back there.  Silly pooch.

What's the hold up, slow poke?

3. Waiting, Waiting, Waiting. Sometimes he likes to take advantage of his lead and wait until I catch up with him so that he can have a bit of a breather.  Other times he likes to poke around the area investigating until I’m in the lead.

Losing Steam, No Longer Feeling It

4. Not Digging It. Sometimes this is how we start our walks, even after he whined and begged to go outside.  Sometimes it hits around the halfway mark when he is thinking he should be back at the house hanging on the couch or watching the happening in the hood from his watchtower.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

5. Full Steam Ahead. Regardless of whether he did any or all of the other stages of our walk, one thing is for certain…When we are headed back towards home he is a dog on a mission and nothing will sway him from his path. Which tickles me considering that when we started out he was concerned that we wouldn’t be able to find our way back home!

Footprints in the Mud

6.  Reality and Perception. The little paw prints belong to my Wee Prince, but the big paw prints match the size of his paws in his heart.  To me, the larger paws match the size of his heart.  I think we can both agree they reflect the size of his attitude!