And The McGee knows when she is being ripped off on walking time. She has a very special look she gives me (eyelids slightly lowered, bottom lip pooched out) along with a special huffy sigh as if to say, "Weak effort owner lady, but there is no way you helped me meet my sniffing quota for the day."
For the longest time, I also struggled to walk McGee "by myself". Because of her outbursts upon seeing another dog, I felt incredibly intimidated at the thought of venturing out on my own without Dog Dad along for re-enforcements. Ok, that's a lie, what I really mean to say is that I wanted Dog Dad to be there to do ALL the enforcing. I just didn't believe that I had enough sway to convince McGee to do any behaving whatsoever.
I'm happy to report that lately my little pup pal and I have been partaking in many more walks on our own. While she still scowls and gives me her most unhappy face when I put on her Gentle Leader, this fleeting moment of cranky face cannot overshadow the ecstatic and elaborate tap dancing routine she treats me to when she knows it's time to go for A Walk.
"Oh excellent, I see you are wearing The Fanny Pack." |
In honor of our newly forged girl time relationship, McGee and I are making a pact (she's just finding out about this right now as I type). We are making a pact to walk 100 miles together, without Dog Dad, by the end of 2013. Today we busted out 1.32 miles, so that gives us 47 days to conquer the remaining 98.68.
Hopefully this quality time is going to solidify my role in The McGee's life as someone she looks up to. She and I have a lot of work to do together so that both of us can be more confident and less worried when we're out together in public. We'll just have to take it one step at a time.
We LOVE walking challenges!! We did one this spring that helped immensly - of course, we;ve started slacking again..but we're getting it.
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