Today I took Ebby for a walk down to the corner of the street and back - I think we once estimated it as close to .5 mile total. About a month ago, I got a rollator and that has made walking any kind of distance A LOT easier...I haven't needed to stare down as my feet as much, I don't need to worry as much about veering off course, it helps my balance. The only problem I came after getting it was trying to walk the dog still. Both of us needed the exercise. Even tho we have a decent sized fenced in yard - she doesn't like running around in it w/out someone else and she doesn't like playing ball or frisbee (she looks at you like its beneath her)
Last night, however, Matt & I went "school clothes shopping" at Petsmart. We got her one of those harnesses that wouldn't pull on her neck (honestly, I'd been thinking about one of those anyways for a while..she's too curious and pulls hard at the lease). We also exchanged the extender leash, which was getting caught in the little joints & stuff, for a thicker, (but still longish) rope-like leash that I could loop over the front of the rollator. This kept my hands free, it didn't pull on one side of the walker when she moved, but still gave a little bit of length for her to investigate the sides of the sidewalk.
Ebony was such a fabulous dog on the walk and adapted to the new stuff quite quickly..for the most part, she stayed to the front of the rollator, and when she began to stray too much all I needed to do was call "Ebby, sidewalk" and she'd usually trot right back in front of me. A few times I had to walk past her and it took the tug of the leash on her back to get her moving again, but she'd get right back up front.
I'm so happy we've figured out how to keep including the dog in my morning walks -they'd be so boring otherwise. And I'm SO proud of Ebby for cooperating and adapting so our solution is actually a workable solution.
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