Penny has been gimped up with a sore paw. By orders of The Vet, she’s restricted to the yard, so Kasey and I are going it alone on our long morning walk.
It’s odd walking without Penny. I miss her, and Kasey does, too. Penny is the dependable presence bringing up the rear, just as Kasey is the darting, straining presence pulling us ahead. Penny takes the straight-ahead approach and keeps Kasey on the path and moving in the right direction. With Penny plodding on our familiar path, Kasey knows where to go.
Penny’s absence means that the morning walk has less upper body exercise value for me; I don’t have to juggle leashes or be pulled in two directions by two dogs that take very different approaches to walking. It also means that I don’t have to deal with Penny’s stubborn, sudden-stop technique to indicate when she doesn’t feel like walking any more. (I have to admit I really don’t miss that part.)
At first The Vet thought that Penny had a sprain, but when her limp persisted we took her in for x-rays. The Vet noticed something around her joints, and sent the x-rays to a specialist for an opinion. It could be arthritis, or it could be something else. We’re keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best.
I hate it when a morning rainstorm prevents my walk. I have lots of bad habits and precisely one good one — taking a long, healthy, fresh air-breathing, cobwebs-clearing walk in the morning with the pooches. I’ve been on the road recently and haven’t done it for about a week, and now I’m stymied in doing so this morning.
