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Patience is a virtue - even for dogs

I sometimes wonder how Buddy feels about having to spend so much of his life waiting. He wakes up firing on all cylinders and ready to seize the day, but has to wait for me to come round, which usually involves ingesting sufficient caffeine. He dances about me in the kitchen waiting to be fed his breakfast. Then he has to wait for me to get some work done before we go for a walk, and of course if I co out he ends up waiting at home for my return.

When we're out on a walk he often has to wait for me then too. Maybe it's because I am deficient in the leg department, only having two to his four, or maybe it's having a higher centre of gravity than him, but he leaves me behind a lot of the time. Of course he always comes back, and he checks on me regularly to see what I'm doing, and why I' dawdling so much. I like to stop to take photos of an interesting tree, a bird or another dog. of course I also fall into conversation with other dog walkers too. Buddy is happy to wait then if her gets attention from the other dog walker, r gets to play with the other dog.

He doesn't seem to be too frustrated at my lack of speed, and indeed I often think I can spot puzzlement in his eyes when he turns to look at me and realises I am so far behind. "Come on - it's only steps, get on with it!" he grins at me, panting slightly, while I trudge after him, puffing and panting much more than him! Of course the good thing for him about him being faster than me is that he can choose to dawdle at times to explore an enticing scent or cock his leg to mark a tree as his, and always catch me up with ease. He never gets out of sight, we both make sure of that, and if me not quite matching his turn of speed means he gets to spend longer in the woods, well maybe he's glad about it after all.

Take care,

Julie x

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