It’s been a while

I didn’t realize it had been six months since I was here last. Time flies…

Dani is still our little neurotic pup, but she is doing so much better. She is now walking on a leash!

This a funny story.

When we first brought her home, trying to get Dani in a harness was an exercise in futility. She would just go sack ‘o taters, or manage to wiggle out of it.

Our other Misfit, Asta, loves to go on walks. There was our incentive. Maybe we could make Dani jealous. She’d see us taking Asta for walks, and because Dani didn’t like a leash, she’d have to stay at home.

After a trip to the vet (with both of them), Mister opened the truck door to get The Girls out. Asta jumped down as usual, and instead of having to coax Dani out, she jumped down too and headed straight for the house. That was mid-January.

Mini step forward.

Not too long after that, Mister and I were getting Asta ready for a walk and Dani came over and plunked herself down in front of the door. Could this be?

Mister gently put Dani in her harness and hooked up her leash. I held Asta’s.

Mister opened the front door. Instead of trying to get away, Dani took a tentative step outside… off we went.

We made our way down the sidewalk, too afraid to speak in fear of breaking the spell.

This was mid-March and she hasn’t stopped yet. She loves going on walks. Even has a little happy dance she does at the front door whenever we are heading out for a stroll around the neighborhood.

We have learned Dani is afraid of bicycles. Still pondering that one.

We’ve even taken The Girls to a local state park to hike the trails. Dani does this thing where she bumps into Asta, licks her face, then runs ahead of her. After these hiking trips we take The Girls for hamburgers. Did you know a certain Orange W burger place will prepare you plain burger patties just for your furkinder? I need to get a video of Dani when we take her for a burger, I think she’d make the perfect spokesdog.

She is still very skittish and runs from most people, including me, but she loves Mister. I’m also still Dani’s favorite person in the mornings when no one else is awake to witness her devotion. I get lots of doggy kisses and she even lets me give her belly rubs.

As a sidenote: apparently a few things have changed at WordPress since I’ve been gone and I have a bit of catching up to do. Things may look a little wonky here while I attempt to navigate all the new hoops I have to jump through. I’ve also forgotten how to do most things so it’s been guess-check-revise getting this post published.