Back Story: Walkin' the dog II

The dog's no fool. She knows that 90% of the time, if I want her to go for a ride in the car, it's going to mean that she will be spending time waiting for me while I go to the post office, my office, Tom's, the Dollar Store, you name it. It got to the point where I would give her a choice, "You want to go in the car, or you want to go to bed?" and she would head straight for her crate and settle in for a nap while I took care of my chores. That's not so bad. But, it makes me feel guilty and limits my roaming time to an hour to an hour-and-a-half. And there may be other reasons why I have to put her to bed during the day, such as the meetings I frequently have to attend. She can't spend her entire day in bed. So, I prefer that she come with me when I run out to do errands.

Of course, there are times when she does want to come in the car. It all depends on where we are going. She likes to visit my friend Walter, whether it be at his place or the office of the Presbyterian church where he can often be found, chatting up the church secretary. She likes to go up to Nick Ormes' animal rescue where she can herd goats or just be another dog in Nick's pack. Most of all, she likes to go over to our daughter's house in Fairborn to play with her cousin dog and visit her extended family. I can leave her in the yard over there, if I am going to be busy for a long time.

But the business of her not wanting to go along for a ride was bothering me. I needed a way to make it fun for her. So, I started including side trips. Whenever I insisted she come along to the post office, I would stop at the Antioch golf course on the way home and walk her over there. Once she learned that there was something in it for her, it became easier for me to get her to cooperate. After awhile, I added trips up to Ellis Pond. Now that's special.

On our last trip to the pond, I got this idea that we ought to explore the Ellis Park spur of the bike path. As we started up Polecat Road, the level of excitement in the back seat was, as usual, palpable. First there was the soft woof accompanied by scurrying back and forth to look out the windows on both sides. When she spotted her first cow, the full-scale barking and howling started. I thought I might have some trouble once we got out of the car in the parking lot, because she might want to get started around the pond right away. But she was cool with going off in a new direction, so we followed the bike path from the lot and crossed Polecat.

I was hoping this section would be long enough to give us a good walk, and it was. By my estimate, it was a little more than a half-mile to the main section of the bike path that runs from Yellow Springs to Springfield. But the distance marker said it was a mile. In any event, it was just what I was looking for, a not too heavily used path where I could enjoy the surroundings with my dog.

As we started out, there was a cornfield on our left and a stand of trees on our right. The corn is just starting to come up and I envision that this will be an ever-changing landscape as we walk here through the different seasons. The path winds from the bright sun of the open field into the shade. At this time, there are wildflowers along the edge of the woods. We walked up to the main path and turned around and went back. As we walked, I knew I had discovered another local gem. We encountered only one walker on the way out and a man with a dog on the way back. Another benefit to this addition to our Ellis Park experience is that sometimes when we get to the park in morning, the grass is very wet. Walking on the bike path will help me keep my shoes dry, while the grass is drying out.

Once we got to Ellis Park, we did our usual circuit of the pond and headed home, man and dog, both satisfied and ready for a nap.

-vh