Dog Days?

They're kinda hot and smelly.

That Ohio weather is at it again. I usually get to run around 3pm, and it was some 75°F outside this time. Much different from the super chilled 40°F it was two days ago. Even still, I ran with my light jacket on because I'd been almost sunburned last week from running in a tank top.

This would've been cooler if my headphones wire wasn't in the picture.

Anyways, back to the point of today's post. I took my German Shepherd with me today. She's 9 years old, and her name is Dakota. I wasn't sure how she'd do because well, in dog years she's 63! We've been living in an apartment for over a year now and hasn't had lots of running exercise. She kept pretty good pace with me though.

However, I had to stop a couple times. At one point there was a little girl playing with a puppy in her front yard. Kota isn't the best socialized dog ever (my fault, I know...) so she has no manners and acted crazy, barking loudly and vocalizing with groans, moans and grunts. She wanted to go to the puppy but I want her to know that being my jogging partner means jogging, not running up to puppies. I kept onward.

Mind you I have in my headphones, so I don't hear much besides some of Kota's loud-mouthing over the music. She didn't settle down as we kept going so I glanced behind me to see that we were being followed by said puppy. And said puppy was being chased by said little girl. The puppy wasn't going too fast, I thought she'd get him. I kept running.

Don't judge my hip shooting while running.

I glance behind me a few strides later to make sure. NOPE. Puppy is caught, but only by its tail. Little girl is being dragged (somewhat) by puppy, who really wants to catch us and probably sniff my dogs behind, as dogs like to do. Now I notice that little girls mom is chasing her. I decide to just stop and make Kota sit. Let puppy to come us, I thought. Kota is obnoxious around other dogs but I know I have control of her head; she wears a Halti. The mom caught them both before they actually got to us, and I said I was sorry, even though no one had really done any wrong. I still felt badly. I saw her lips moving, caught her say, "Don't worry about it," and we continued on our run.

Not even a whole minute later, another dog is chasing us. This time, its coming from the park across the street, where its people were playing catch with each other. The dog must've felt left out. 'No ball for me? Okay then, I'll just go jog with those folks over there.' HA HA! Kota acted out again, getting the attention of the other dogs owners, who called to it, not that it cared. This dog was older looking, and his gait wasn't quick. Right before he crossed the road to us, a car came and thankfully he was smart enough to see it and stop. When he stopped, he lost interest in us and went back to his people. That or maybe I just couldn't hear them shouting to high heaven that he'd better get back or else... Headphone. Music. Yeah.

Even though there were a couple times I had to stop because of Kota's misbehavior towards seeing other dogs, we kept decent pace and I really enjoyed getting out today. I even paused for a moment because I saw a butterfly in the road. It allowed me to touch its legs and climbed onto my fingertip, but flew off before I could pull out my phone with the other hand to snap a photo. I have to say, getting any decent shots with a camera phone is NOT as easy as you might think when you're walking. Hello, motion blur!

Between the sun, the heat, and the dog (accompanied by hot doggy breath), I sure stunk and couldn't wait to get in the shower when I got home.

"Will Run For a Running Partner (of the canine variety)"