….............And
I had a 16 month old collie pup who needed a walk at least twice a
day. I had an 'essential' reason to go out. And I was quite happy
to go out only twice a day to walk the dog. Oh and a quick trip
outside between 10-11pm for her to have a wee before bedtime because
I live in a flat.
On
the afternoon of the 23rd March I took my collie pup, for
a walk in one of our normal dog walking routes and had a lovely time.
The only other people there were lone dog walkers walking their
furry friends.
The
minute 'lock down' was announced............ psychologically my
whole perspective on my life changed. I was no longer free to do
whatever I wanted. We were being told that we could only go out for
one hour of exercise a day.
I
broke the rules........................
…..............On
the afternoon of 24th March I went back to my normal dog
walking place (after already trekking my dog around the streets in
the morning) and it was absolutely mobbed with people. It was like
the whole world was out doing their one bit of exercise a day.
Seriously?!
There
were joggers, there were cyclists, there were zillions of people
walking dogs. It was like, overnight the whole world had gone into
some sort of mad exercise mode. Boris had told us we could exercise
once a day so everyone was exercising once a day. The PM had spoken
so we all had to go out.
Where
had all these dogs come from. When did they normally get their
walks. Were they normally picked up via the 'dog walking vans' first
thing in the morning and transported to places unknown at a vast cost
to their owners?
It
was weird?! All of a sudden, our normally quiet dog walking routes
were over-run with zillions of dog walkers. Oh and I have to say
most of them were things that were crossed with a poodle so were some
sort of 'doodle' things. And most of them were wearing full body
coats. Right down to their paws.
It
was ridiculous?! Grrrrr......................
Zillions
of poodly/doodly dogs wearing designer coats in our dog walking
places. It was an absolute nightmare.
For
the first couple of weeks of lock down I just didn't have a clue
where to take my pooch to give her some run about time. I couldn't
let her off her lead because she was a very bouncy little collie pup
and 5 weeks ago still had a tendency to 'jump up' at everybody who
she saw. And as all the dog walking routes were now filled with
joggers and parents teaching their small children how to ride bikes;
I just couldn't risk her doing her 'jumping up' thing every 2 mins.
For almost 2 weeks I kept her on her lead, I avoided my normal dog
walking places and just trekked her around the streets on her lead.
And for the first two weeks of lock down the streets were a lot
quieter than the parks?!
And
then I had a 'lightbulb moment'........................ if I took her
to the parks/dog walking places first thing in the morning (ie before
9am) I was sure it wouldn't be so busy. My theory was correct. Yay!
Having said that, there were still a few joggers around and there
were still a few families out with little people at that time. But
nothing like the hoards of people who descend on these places during
the day.
….........So
then I went through a phase of taking her somewhere for a 'run about'
first thing in the morning and trekking her around the streets on her
lead in the afternoon.
Fast
forward to almost 6 weeks in lock down and
actually........................ I'm loving the fact that I have to
be more resourceful re where I walk her. I have found some fabulous
new places to walk. Mainly on golf courses, where we have the 'right
to roam' in Scotland, but I've also walked around places that I would
never even of considered walking around before.
And
the best thing about being in lock down from a dog walking point of
view...................... my collie pup has become far less
'jumpy'.
'Jumping
up' at random people was her worst quality a couple of months ago and
I was tearing my hair out as to how I would ever train her to keep
all her paws on the floor whilst retaining her friendly nature
towards all humans & dogs. Perhaps she's just outgrown this. Or
perhaps because there's zillions more people around I'm just able to
catch her before she actually jumps and I can reinforce the command,
'No jumping' on a more regular basis. Who knows. She's not perfect
yet (and probably never ever will be) but the number of people who
are out and about walking certainly seem to have contributed to my
collie pup turning into a 'perfect pooch.'
See
you all tomorrow.
Toodles.
Xxx
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