Lovely Walk

Hello everyone,

Me and my darling girl had such a wonderful walk last night I just thought I would write it up. Due to various issues {season-hurt leg-spay} since we have had Misty we haven't had a long run (more than a few weeks) of being able to walk her properly. We have been able to walk her for a few weeks and then something happens where she has to be limited on her walks. Well now all that is over we are finally able to get into a proper routine of nice walks for her and before she had her spay we got into a routine of meeting my friend Amanda in the evenings for a nice hour long walk to the local parks or just around the streets. Now for some reason Misty has never taken to Amanda, I have no idea why- I lived with her for several years and she is the most animal person I know- even though she did everything right when meeting Misty she still would bark and generally not like her. The most she would ever do is take treats from her. Despite that Mandy absolutely loves her and just laughs it off however Monday night we met for an evening walk and Misty RUNS up to her (on the lead so obviously this meant dragging me but I didn't care!) She was all over her, no barking she just seemed genuinely happy to see her,Mandy was over the moon and I was so happy. What a great start to the evening- we went to the local park and had a lovely time with her on the training line and I even trusted her enough to drop the line for most of the walk. We practised the touch command and she was very responsive. I did freeze when I saw a lovely young fox run through the whole park back to a hole in the fence near us. He was lucky the park was empty apart from us! Misty didn't see him till the last second so just went for a sniff to the hold in the fence and then we resumed play. Last night we had the best walk ever. I drove Misty to the River Thames as its only a five minute drive from us. However a five minute drive turns into a nightmare. My car is only a coupe and so I cant put her in the back as I have no headrest which to attach the car hammock we use in my husbands car which normally keeps her put in the back seat. So I had to put her in the front seat and tie her lead around the headrest giving her enough room to stand and sit etc but not to climb over to me. Well all she wants to do is sit on my lap- lovely when we are at home. When Im driving then not so much! Eventually we made it to the park safe and sound. When she saw Mandy there waiting for us she went mad trying to get out and see her. Well we start our walk along the river and Misty is loving it. Straight away we see a little black dog with her owner and his teenage son. Now some of you might know I used to be VERY wary of letting Misty meet dogs as she used to do nothing but bark at them which of course set them off and I would feel very akward. I knew it was only because she was fearful of them and barking was her way of saying stay away. Well a lot of people on here told me not to stress because if I do then she will sense it and then that could cause a problem with her and other dogs. I really thought about the advice and knew I did need to chill out with her. Now Im MUCH better with it- I let her sniff dogs and am never stressed. she has met some horrible little dogs that lunge and try to bite her but she NEVER reacts. We go out to the local park with my friend and his golden Retriever and she really likes him. I keep her on the lead with him but I think next time we go out I might let her off to have a real play with him if the park is empty. Anyway Im going off topic. So we meet this little black dog and both their body language is good and the little one does back but his owner just said he is barking cause he wants to play. It was such a nice interaction so we said our byes after a bit. the teenager just kept looking at Misty and smiling - she obviously has a fan there! So then we meet two off lead dogs - my heart did race slightly but I kept calm and Misty LOVED them- we got talking to their owner and she was so nice. We were talking for AGES and in the end she changed her walk to walk with us so the dogs could have a little walk and sniff together. Misty was a star- the lady gave them all treats and then I returned the compliment. It was so nice I was buzzing with how this lady didn't pre judge and was so nice. She kept saying such nice things about Misty I was so happy. Her two were so sweet, not bouncy just very polite and Misty acted exactly the same way. So we continue our walk meet a grey larger dog ( wolfhound?) and he was off the lead and wanted to play with her. His male owner was just laughing but I don't think his wife was overally interested in the dogs meeting but still it was another nice experience.  While the two dogs were saying hello another little black dog walked past and he was a barky yappy thing. His owner just dragged him away. Then we go on our walk and see lots of fisherman -she wanted to meet all of them. From being a dog who wants everyone to stay away and barks when they see people/dogs she is now a dog that wants to say hello and meet EVERYONE. I must say 'Don't be so nosey' fifty times a walk. I think it puts peoples mind at rest as I do understand not everyone likes dogs ( something must be wrong with them ) and its not ideal having her go up to everyone but when I say that people are a lot more friendly and it also gives them opportunity to say they don't mind etc then of course I let her meet them. So we go for a lovely walk around the Lock and head back. We see some more dogs and everything goes lovely. Then we had an experience which is still making me laugh. We meet this white dog that's a bit bigger then her and just covered in long fur so I have no idea what she was. Well the dogs go in for a sniff and then their dog raises his paw and punches Misty in the face. This wasn't done aggressively as I wouldn't have stayed if it was but she just wanted to play. The male owner was saying she wants to play. The dog then started play bowing and barking, he was getting so frustrated that Misty wasn't chasing him you could hear the frustration in his bark. Then he kept on bowing and hitting her in the face with his paw. Misty was completely stumped - I was nearly in tears. It made it funnier just because Misty is a VERY handy dog- she uses her paws to drag your arm back if you finish stroking her before she is ready. She uses her paws to tap you on the leg if she wants something and sometimes when we lay in bed she brings her paw up and places it on our face (very gently of course) It was SO funny to see her thinking ' what the? why are you hitting my face? Im the one who uses my paws how dare you' it was lovely as she didn't react at all. I think the lady owner might of been a bit nervous but when she saw that Misty didn't react badly she was much more relaxed with us. They said their dog was very bouncy so then Misty and her did have a tiny chase - she was on a lead too so they managed to tangle the lady owner up in their leads ha ha. Then we continued behind them and they turned off and you could see Misty was missing her new little friend. Nearly back to the car and we saw a Collie going for a run with his owner. I said hello to the man, I like doing this so people feel a bit more friendly towards us, he said hello back and smiled,  Misty wanted to meet the Collie but he wasn't really interested and wanted to keep up with his owner. The last dog we saw was a ..... STAFFY. Heard a dog barking and looked at the house next to where we were walking and there was a beautiful Staff stood on his front door step all proud and just having a little bark. He really looked like he could have boxer in him so I said loudly' Oh Look a Gorgeous Staff' I wonder if he is Boxer too' hoping the owner would come out and so we could chat but sadly no such luck. It was a lovely night and Im working from home today so we are going to go back at lunch time. Ah isn't life better when you are blessed with a dog

Ah, isn't it great when you have a fab walk like that Life Is so much better with a dog in it and to see Misty enjoying her walk too is fab. It just goes to show what a happy content girl she is now and that bit about her being clumped on the nose by the other dog made me laugh too.

Here's too many many more walks like that

Heres to many more lovely dog walks and paws on the face moments well done misty