allaboutwomen

Honestly, I know that it's really important for dogs to go on walks. They simply don't get enough of their energy out otherwise, and then we have a bunch of behaviol problems (I personally feel that phillosophy also applys to elementary school students). But I just "couldn't" walk my dogs. Mainly, it's because of Natascha, our 4 year old German Sheaperd. I consider her my first born daughter, but she is obviously a Daddy's girl. She is always jeolous of what ever he's doing, she obeys his every word, and if I'm on one side of the room, and Phill is in the other, she's right on his feet. She's part Austrailian Sheapard, so she's smaller, lighter, and has a nubbed tail. She's still crazy strong, and I was the one who bathed her and walked her. It was TORTURE for both her and me. She was always going crazy, trying to escape, and I was being tugged and pulled. It took a whole lot more energy than I was willing to put out. When we got our own place, we had to adopt another dog for her to play with, because she's never been without canine playmates. So, I chose a cockerspanial/peakeneese puppy, and named her Razzle. I chose a small dog, because I wanted someone who would lay in my lap, who I could bathe without dislocating something, somee one who I could, someday, walk. But because of how upset Natascha was every time I tried to leave the house with only Razzle, I stopped doing that. I was the one who would bathe them occationally, and neither of us walked the dogs.

Since moving into town, Phill and I walk into the shopping district, and watch other people go by with beautifully behaved dogs. I wanted to do that with Razzle and Natascha. I kept putting it off: mainly, because I don't walk into town by myself. But today I had to put a deposit into the ATM at the bank, so I was going to walk. Phill would be sleeping. It occured to me that I could put both dogs outside, and when I was finished with breakfast, I could bring Natascha in and put her in the Master bedroom. She wouldn't freak, because she would figure Razzle and I would be right in. She might even fall asleep before she realized that she'd been had. I couldn't find the leash, so I almost gave up on the idea of taking my little four-legged two year old furry daughter. But, as I went to let Natascha in first, I saw the leash tucked ontop of a box. A sign, surely! I quietly put Natascha in the bedroom, and went back outside to put Razzle on the leash.

Razzle....well, I guess she might be dumb. She has no idea of what NO is, or loud noises, or a tap on the nose. She doesn't understand when Natascha is growling to stay back, or that if Daddy is yelling, he doesn't want you on his lap. She is just always happy, all the time. She has no concept of displeasure: a yank on the leash is ignored, a cat swiping her nose is an invitation to play. She just doesn't feel discouraged. You can imagine what training is like, if she doesn't mind concesquences.

So, as you might expect, our walk was...strained at the beggining. I kept her on a short leash, but she didn't care. Her front feet were up in the air, peddling, trying to keep moving faster, as she lept ahead. I tried giving her more leash, in case she was choking, but she did the same thing: trying to outrun her leash. My arms were quickly tiring, and I figured that I would be doing this the entire walk. I recalled vaguely something someone said, and looped the chain behind me, so that Razzle was pulling on my left side, and the end of the leash was in my right hand. It took stress of me imidiatly. About a mile in, Razzle figured out that she was supposed to be on my left side. If I moved left, so did she. She didn't run behind me and try to scamper free. She just moved alongside me on my left. By mile two (we were heading home,) she had stopped pulling on the leash. She was side by side with me, in easy stride. The total walk was three miles, 1.5 there and 1.5 back. I didn't let her meet any humans, because I was worried about what would happen, as this was her first walk in the city. She really wanted to meet some dogs running free in the park, and I thought one of them would follow us home, but he stopped when he saw that Razzle had finally lost interest. I certainly don't want any bad things to happen with another dog. I took backstreets to avoid contact with others, just working on my baby.

So, it was a success. She got some exercise, and so did I. Yes, I did bring lots of water for her, and we took several water breaks. She's just as energetic tonight, so no lasting damage. We're going to start taking daily walks, although only for an hour on the week days, because I also have to walk to Curves on those days, alone.

Afterwards, I went to work, and it was crazy, b/c something like 6 people called out, and we were PACKED during the night, and empty during the day. And I was the only one on register. And I was running for myself sometimes. And sometimes I was doing both and dropping frys and making drinks. And customers were complaining: "There are three registers, so that people don't have to wait!!!" Well, that works fine if you have 3 register people. But there was only me. And it was my first day back from vacation. And I had a manager who I've never seen before in my life. Who yelled at me. Because she got on my register to show me something when I had a line, and when she finished I said I could take it from here, (because she was doing the void, when I could easily take the next order and move the line from what she had done,) and she snapped at me, "Don't EVER tell me how to do my job." Um, I'm NOT??? I'm telling you I can do MY job. Really. I'm very good at it. You wouldn't know, because you've never seen me before. I know my way around that register very well, better than several other managers, I know because when they ring me up, they have no idea where to look for what I'm ordering, and then the computer won't accept what they said, so I have to step back behind the counter and show them what is going on in the computer. Anywhose, the entire day was yucky, and several times I got this urge to slam my visor on the floor and yell, "I quit!" And I openly wondered why more people don't quit the day they get back from vacation. I was all chillax, and it was all insane. I was there for 10 hours. I had to sacrafice my drink from my lunch inorder to get a milk when I got there, because there was no time for me to eat when I got home. I got my lunch at 7 PM (I got there at one) and I had eaten breakfast (nuts and yogurt) at 11. 8 hours between meals. No wonder I was so emotional.

So, how was your day? I walked the dog.