I love me some Ollie, but he is seriously into his teenage years. He spent last month finding every possible way to break out of his yard. He is absolutely impossible to wear out. The neighbor has a large kennel in his yard, so the neighbors finally started putting him in "doggie jail" when they found him roaming. At least he is a good natured boy and comes right away when he hears my truck. I cannot tell you how many days I ended up down in his neighborhood early because he was on the loose again. Some dogs just have a knack for escape...we used to say my first dog's middle name was Houdini for that very reason.
Ollie goes on long runs three days each week, and dog parks it the other two. Financially that is what works for his owner, so we are doing our best to keep him content on that. When I first started running with him, he was such a good boy. Ran along with me like the well mannered dog he will someday become. Since his descent into teenage insanity, not so much. I think of our runs as cardio and resistance training all rolled into one. We set a nice pace and are moving along, then zoom, off we go at warp speed after a squirrel...and around the tree, tied into knots, complete stop. Untie, redirect, get started again and wham...towing an anchor...the grass is particularly sweet and yummy right here. Back to pace and, left turn up a front path because there is a dog over there....
I know I should be able to train this dog to run, focused on me and ignoring all of the distractions. I am a professional, it is my job. And I am working on it. I guess I am just saying - it's not going so well! But I am getting a fantastic workout in the process!
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