10 Years of Walking Dogs

I recently realized that it was about ten years ago that I started walking one of my dogs almost once a day.  There were a number of small reasons I started doing this, but it quickly became one of the most enjoyable parts of my day.  It has remained a very important and fun thing to do.

My walks started out modest at best, but pretty quickly grew to a minimum of about 3 miles and often twice that many.  When the worst of the weather hits, it might not happen or if I get home from work very late, but it is rare that I don't at least get out for a short walk.  Back of the envelope calculations suggest that I've walked approximately 12000 miles in this time (3.5+ miles x 6.5+ days a week, 50 weeks a year) and this is actually pretty conservative.  This is the equivalent of walking to Australia or to and from Tierra del Fuego.

I've thought about taking up bike riding on occasion but bikes can be really annoying on some of the narrow roads around where I live.  I'd miss the slower pace...and the dogs.  I've never considered running, since I've never seen a jogger smiling.  Walking a fast pace is good low impact exercise.  More important, it is a contemplative time to reflect and unwind.  Many of life's (and work) problems have been put into perspective or even solved on a long walk.  When I can't walk for one reason or another, I miss the mental health it helps with.

The dogs absolutely love the walks as well.  This is good because a fat ugly old man walking down a rural road is creepy.  A man walking a dog is quaint.  Sometimes, the dogs are tangential to the need to get out for a while however.  The dogs have changed over the last ten years.  Ten years ago it Sammy, Dixie and Soda.  Jackson joined soon afterwards.  Sammy and Dixie are walking elsewhere, but Fairbanks is now part of the paw pad crew.  Spring and fall walks are always the longest - and sometimes there are multiple walks in a day.  Winter can be brutal and the dogs often resist on broiling humid days in the summer, preferring a shady spot to any physical movement at all.  At times, they give up mid walk, sometimes a long distance from home.  We always get home; I do worry about the older ones in the summer and they only walk for short distances.

Since moving, I can no longer walk through the nature preserve near the old house.  I do miss that, as it was always an interesting place to walk through.  Driving there, or anywhere now to walk would just be completely wrong.  I continue to be fascinated by amphibians and other things in the water areas as I walk. At times, I've seen what seems like just about every type of native animal to where I live.

Ten years and counting.  I hope I'll be able to walk back from Australia some day - at least figuratively.  I think I'll start on that now.