It was a beautiful day so at lunch time I took Gloria to McCann Park. I guided her to the swings initially, where the ground is covered in sand. Seconds after her feet hit the warm sand, she flopped over and rolled in it. Then, almost as quickly, she dug a hole and did #2. Because the sand was fairly deep, I had to work at it to find her waste and dispose of it. Anyway, the biggest moment came when we returned home. She took a couple bites of grass in the front yard, as she usually does, and then ran to the front door, waiting to get in. I unlocked the door and for the first time, she stopped, look at the opening and then turned and looked back at the yard! She wasn't ready to go in!
Later in the day I took Anderson Cooper out for her third walk. We also went to McCann Park, and she was pretty scared. That was fine...I was ready to hold her the entire time if necessary. I kept her beside me or in my lap for the first half an hour, carrying her from spot to spot every few minutes so she could experience a little variety. She looked around a lot, curious, but initially she didn't want to explore. Finally, while sitting on a large rock near the border of the brush, she climbed down from my lap, examined her surroundings for a couple of minutes, and then began to walk! I was excited and decided to let her lead for a bit before Itaking the lead and directing her. She walked alongside the brush border and suddenly, just inches away within the brush, was s skunk. I sucked in a breath, encouraged her to keep moving and gave her a gentle tug. She didn't notice the skunk and the skunk didn't move. Once she was about 5 feet away, I picked her up and moved her to another part of the park to continue our walk. And she did.
About a half an hour later, as we walked back to the car, I looked over to where the skunk had been just within the brush. The skunk was now on the sidewalk, sniffing around. A man and his daughter, walking in the skunks direction, saw it and made a WIDE detour around it.
All in all, a wonderful day!
