I lost Dudley for a heart stopping three to five minutes today. I have been letting him off the lead for most of our walks recently. He usually stays within six to ten feet of me except for when he will stop to sniff out the neighborhood news. However, he saw some birds flying up from a thicket when we were nearly home, and took off in pursuit. I couldn’t even hear him crashing through the trees. I wasn’t wearing appropriate clothing for bushwhacking, so I had just about decided to go back home and change into jeans when he came running down the trail to find me.
I haven’t been walking nearly as much as I should to meet my goal of thirty minutes a day. Lody has been a little lame, and hasn’t been keeping up very well. I have been afraid I would lose her if I kept marching along at my normal pace, so today I left her home and just took Dudley. I don’t think she minds, as long as I managed to keep her from noticing that I am taking Dudley. I slipped out with him while she was occupied with her breakfast.