Morning Walk

The two of us have a routine that we enjoy every morning: waking up and going for a walk with our mama and her assistant. (Of course, Rozi has her own every- other- morning routine of waking up when the sun comes up and barking at it...sheesh!)

We enjoy getting out and stretching our legs, because it gives us a chance to have several lungsful of fresh Arlington air, gives us a chance to stretch our legs after a long night of sleeping like a pair of little logs, and greeting the neighborhood joggers, bicyclists, and walkers, most of whom make a funny (and a little scary) face when we yell "good morning" to them. Rozi in particular yells "good morning" over and over and over again at everything that moves, including squirrels, rabbits, and random pieces of paper.

As we walk along our route (and - as we've mentioned in an earlier blog - we have a regular route that we like to follow), we enjoy the sights and smells around us. 

First, we head out after our mama puts on our safety harnesses. We think that she does this to be sure that we are safe so that if someone scoops us up, we can be identified by the pretty colors we are wearing. Izzi gets carried since she's just waking up and needs a little time to orient herself with her surroundings, while Rozi (literally) "hits the ground running". It's like those toy cars that some children have where you roll it backward over and over and over and then when you put it down on the ground, it flies forward and fast. That's Rozi. Her legs are moving at top speed before we even get out of the little room where we sometimes meet our mama when she comes home.

Then, we're outside and Rozi is speeding along and Izzi gets put down gently on the ground, like a feather floating down from on high. There's a lot of places around our house that other doggies like to visit, and Izzi enjoys making sure that she has checked those places out thoroughly so that she knows who has been around. Like, this morning: she stopped for several minutes to sniff around the lamp post right outside our gate.

Then, we turn down the big hill and sometimes Izzi likes to squeeeeeze behind the big box that is there. It's a little more difficult for Rozi to get back there, so it's more of an Izzi place. The hill has some good-smelling bushed near it and we both like sniffing the branches that reach out to the street as we walk - haltingly - down the sidewalk, with Rozi being sure to let the world know that she's awake and outside and having a grand time.

At the first turn, we sometimes cross the street and have more bushes to poke around and smell. Other times, we stay on the same part of the street and walk to the place that has lots of rocks for us to walk on. If we go onto the rocks, we have to be careful to step gently, since we don't want to hurt out paws. Sure, it would be nice to have little shoes on our feet so that we don't have that problem but as much as we have hoped to get some and have even whispered to mama while she sleeps that it would be great to have some, we have not yet been heard (we guess).

A long semi-straight stretch follows ("semi-straight" because even though the road is straight, Rozi likes to create a sine [or cosine, depending on your perception] pattern as she walks side to side while moving forward. There are bushes behind the church that are fun to sniff and we often do that and sometimes - when we are across the street - we get to go into the little park that we have to jump up onto. There's soft grass there and we like it a lot but sometimes we're just not in the mood and want to continue with our aerobic walking.

One more turn and we're at the buildings that have lots of bushes in front (more great smells!) and we continue on. Sometimes our mama (or her assistant) drag us the wrong way away from home and stop at a big metal thing and we don't like that so much and so we do a "sit in" like the hippies used to do and we get our way and get to head home.

One more maybe little "jump up" park (a bigger one) is on the way and it's a "are we feeling it" sort of decision that we make collectively before getting back through our gate and into our little neighborhood.

When we get home, Izzi jumps up the steps quickly, wanting to get some water and protection from the elements, while Rozi often forgets what she's doing and sometimes stays out until someone helps her up the steps.

Then, it's time for breakfast, after which we can get back to sleep, exhausted.

Arf, Yip, Yip, Yip,

Izzi & Rozi