I love my dogs. They are my constant companions, and I’ve jumped through a lot of hoops to get us all relocated across the country.
One thing we’ve all had to adjust to is the lack of a backyard. Back in New Jersey, I could just open the door and let Moose and Lally romp in the yard for as long as they wanted. Here, we don’t have that luxury. Instead, we have to take walks — usually four per day. Sometimes, I can trust Lally to be off the leash and stay close.
When we’re walking a new route, or walking close to the street, I keep both dogs on their leashes. I have retractors for both of them, though Lally’s is slightly shorter than Moose’s. And every walk, we have the same problem: if there is a tree, shrub, street sign, or other obstacle, the dogs will invariably walk on opposite sides of the pole.
And that’s when I have to get creative. I’ve hugged more trees in the last few weeks than I think I have in the rest of my life combined, trying to keep both leashes in my hands while untangling myself from the foliage.
Most of the time, this works out just fine. I can keep hold of the leashes with one hand long enough to get myself around the obstacle. Once in a while, I’ll drop one (or both). Sometimes, I’ll even see one of the dogs headed for the wrong side of the pole and be able to nudge them onto the opposite side. There was that one time that I managed to walk straight into a low-hanging tree branch because I was concentrating on navigating the trunk. That wasn’t fun. And there was the other time that Moose saw a cat just as I was tree-hugging and it felt like I was going to have my arm yanked off. But that bark impression in my skin looked just lovely.
Okay, it isn’t perfect yet. But we’re practicing. Who knew we’d have to learn how to walk when we moved from the East Coast to the West Coast!