Walking With Deuce

Every day I take Deuce out for at least two good walks, one in the morning and one at night. If I happen to not have to work, we may go for three or four, but the minimum is two. The first place we go for each of these walks is Memorial Park because that is the only place he does his business. If I am running behind in the morning and we don’t have time to go to the park, he will wait until the evening to take care of business -- I try to never let that happen though. In the evening we usually go for our walk between nine and ten, so at this time of year it’s just starting to get dark out. I switch up the routes regularly; sometimes we go to the ocean or through different neighborhoods.

The last few nights we’ve been going through Highrock Park as part of our outing. When we get there the sun has set but the sky is still light. When I look at the trees from the field in the park, they are dark against the sky. To my surprise I saw a few bats. I wasn’t sure what they were at first but one flew very close over my head and I could see the shape of its wings. It was very cool. I don’t ever remember seeing bats in the wild before. I do remember visiting Crystal Gardens in Victoria, before it was shut down. They had a bat room where one could go and see all kinds of different species of bats. That was very interesting but it’s so much better to see them in their natural habitat.

Another funny thing that I want to share about one of our walks the other night is what I call the plastic bunny incident. Deuce is crazy about deer, cats, bunnies and squirrels. If he happens to see one while we are walking, he whines and pulls on the leash, wanting to give chase. I correct him and usually walk in a different direction to try and break him of his obsession. This time however, I had to let him investigate. It was dark and we were almost home at the end of our walk. On the other side of the road there was a small dark figure which looked very much like a black bunny just sitting there. I saw right away what it was and when we got to the “bunny”, Deuce was quite embarrassed to find that it was a plastic plant pot. I laughed and we continued on our way. The next couple of nights the pot was still there and each time we walked by, Deuce still had to investigate.

There are so many things such as this, that I get to experience because I am out walking with Deuce. We are so blessed to have him in our lives. I am reminded that he was the one who chose us and not the other way around. When we entered the pound yard, he walked right up to us, ready to play. From that moment he was ours, or rather we were his! David Aird's Blog: New Family Member