Naughty Puppy Thursday: Walks

In the past few weeks Chester and I have started going on morning walks. We usually also go in the evening when I get home, but some days it's raining or too hot out to go. Going in the morning guarantees that he'll get at least one walk a day. Due to his luxating patella and the heat, we only go around the block. This takes us about ten minutes. He usually goes to the bathroom on them, so it's an added bonus that I don't have to stand out in the yard waiting for him to go. This way we both get a little bit of exercise before it gets hot out, and it helps me wake up in the mornings.

I thought our little morning walks would wear him out, but they seem to give him more energy. He's pretty cute about walks. When you ask him, "Chester, do you want to go for a walk?" he gets really excited and does a little spin (in a circle) like "yeah! yeah! let's go!" It's adorable. Then he impatiently waits for you to get your shoes on and leash on him. He has a special leash we just use for walks (blue plaid with bones on it), so when he sees it, he automatically assumes we're going for a walk. This is bad when you can't find his normal leash and just want to take him out to the bathroom...

Chester has actually gotten a lot better about pulling on his leash. He still does it when you first start out, and if he sees a squirrel, but otherwise it's not bad. Often he'll run a little ahead until the leash is tight, stop and wait for me to catch up, and then run ahead again. It's like he can't stand to go if it's not at full speed. He's also really good at not barking at things on walks - that is unless he sees a big dog. I don't know what it is about big dogs that makes him bark. We pass little ones all the time and he doesn't make a peep. I think it's because the old neighbors had a large dog that was CONSTANTLY barking at him and us whenever we were in the yard. I don't know if he'll ever get over it. He was fine at obedience once he got used to seeing the other big dogs, but if he doesn't recognize the dog, he barks. Super annoying and embarrassing..

Ok so this post really isn't about Chester being naughty, but it's Thursday so I had to blog about him. Adam complains that Chester gets all the attention in this blog. Poor Adam. He's such a good husband.