20071017

Life with a Dog


Two significant events influencing my general health happened early this year: I started working a full-time desk job during the day on top of my teaching in the evenings; and my housemate moved in. With two jobs, my personal time has all but disappeared, so I don't do as much hiking, biking and paddling watercraft, and well, my housemate happens to be a fantastic cook... and he cooks a lot... and I always feel compelled to finish everything.

Sometime between April and September, I gained ten pounds. I didn't even see it coming. I woke up one morning and my pants, which had previously been too large and always fell down if I didn't tie the string around the hips, suddenly fit! And there was a definite pooch. And, for the first time ever in my life, the extra weight didn't go away when the school year started (I teach PE).

I actually teach a weight control course, and practicing what I preach is proving to be something of a challenge, at least from a food intake perspective. Go figure. The good thing is that I now have a jogging companion in the form of an akita/lab/border collie, which makes the exercise part easier, because labs and collies are working dogs with a lot of energy!

Because of my work schedule, I admit I don't do much with Piglet during weekdays. But last Saturday, after my morning tea, I decided to take Piglet for a spin around the neighborhood. I leashed her up, grabbed a couple of plastic bags, and headed out the door.

It's been years since I've walked a dog, but I have to admit Piglet is much better on a leash than most of my dogs were. Still, she pulled a little. We headed west toward the downtown area, past a little corner church where they were holding a fundraising rummage sale. Most of the ladies saw a big, black dog heading toward them and drew back in fear, but Piglet strode on by with barely a glance in their direction. She was on a mission!

As we got to the downtown area, there were more "dog" people out and about, so they saw a black lab with its tongue hanging out and a smile on its face and were completely relaxed. Piglet pretty much ignored them too.

Things went so smoothly, I took Piglet jogging on Sunday morning! This time, we barely saw anyone. I guess most people were in church at that point, since I think it was around 9 or 10am.


With dog on leash, I'm hopeful that the health issues will turn for the better.

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