Taking the Dog for a Drag.

Harmony

Harmony is old. She has bad hips and is nearly blind. Poor thing. She is also obese. She was a rescue from a breeding kennel where they tried breeding her until she was eight and when she wouldn't "take" they finally got rid of her. She has been ours for about two years.

Poor thing was on puppy chow forever, which really packed on the weight. Now we have transitioned her to an elder dog food and I walk with her several times a week. I wish I could say every day, but I am not there yet.

Usually, in the mornings, I let her out to pee. I don't leash her, because she pees and then comes right back. This morning she went trotting up the road and there I was in bare feet facing a stone driveway with Harmony out in the road.

I went after her and called her back and waved to the cars to stop the traffic. No more off leash time for Harmony.

Here is the thing, she is walking better now. She is still very slow and most times I have to encourage her to keep going. Today we walked the longest, thirty minutes. She was tired, I was tired. I am not much of a walker. More of a swimmer. Swimming is effortless for me. Weightless.

Walking burns a lot less calories than swimming, but I can't help but think that if walking is THIS hard for me, then I should be doing it more often.

I had thought of getting another dog, maybe with two it would encourage Harmony to move more. But maybe with two, Harmony would end up staying home and would not get any exercise. One is enough.

Harmony and I are both out of shape, but together maybe we can get things going better.

This is the way I feel after a walk.