Party of Four

Since I don't have a gym membership, my main form of exercise has been walking/running the dogs in my neighborhood. Which has been great for the dogs - they each lost 10 pounds of flab this past year - until I underwent surgery and had to take 4 weeks off of exercising. The first three weeks after Lena's birth, they were awful! Especially Puck. He would jump up and run to the back door every time I shifted or stood up. I kept threatening to find them foster homes for the month.

So when I was cleared to resume walking last week, I was excited to get out of the house and exercise the dogs again. But I wondered how well it would go with the addition of a stroller. The dogs often pull me so that they can stop and mark a bush, etc.

Yesterday I decided it was time to try out a walk. It had rained for a few days and the dogs were overdue. Much to my amazement, they were FANTASTIC. Puck stayed right by my side and did not pull or try and stop once. Nugget stayed on Puck's other side and only tried to pull over a few times. We passed all the houses with vocal dogs and the didn't get overexcited or lunge for the gate. We even passed the greyhounds and their crazy owner (both dogs have been bit by the male greyhound) and they didn't flinch. The best part was when a fire truck passed us and Puck started howling (so cute!). I was so proud of them; they realized with the baby they needed to be on their best behavior!