Why I'm getting unfit (original) (raw)
footpad 😃happy
July 27 2008, 13:30
"Running" with Mischa has become a misnomer. Now that we're a well-established pack, I can at last let him off the leash when we're nowhere near road traffic, farm animals, cats, leashed dogs, large expanses of mud, bicycles, gardens, nervous pedestrians, open buildings, Anatolian Shepherds, or other risk areas. (I invite the gentle reader to decide in which cases Mischa himself is the hazard.)
Although Mischa and I run at about the same speed, a lot of the time Mischa isn't running. He's sniffing things, or peeing on them, or conversing with other dogs, or frozen motionless in furious stare-battles with the local farm cats—all those critical tasks which make up the busy schedule of an active Northern dog. So I maintain his average velocity, a sort of tranquil amble, while he oscillates back and forth at higher speeds, and I keep track of him by the jingle of his various legally-required dog tags and the slightly Dopplered pant-pant-pant-pant-pant-pant-pant-pant each time he overtakes me.