I did not want to walk my dog today…

I didn’t want to walk my dog today…but I did it anyways. Why? Because no matter how I feel before our walk, I feel so much better after.

I used to really love walking before I got a dog (did I tell you that CoCo is actually the first dog I’ve ever owned? Crazy huh?) I would put on my music and set the walk app on my watch and take off thru the trails. It was like a walking meditation, alone with my thoughts and my music.

Now with taking the DNP mascot out every day it is a new experience every time. She stops and smells things. She stops and talks to some of the people. She stops to talk to every dog!

Notice that I say ‘she stops’ – it’s CoCo that does all the stopping. Not me. Her stopping has expanded my world so incredibly much.  

We have met some of the cutest and sweetest dogs. Feisty Leo, our mascot’s best Frenchie friend, with his zest for life. Big Rocky the Bernese, who is just the gentlest big dog and shows CoCo all his secrets to the good life. Little Cedar, a beautiful buttermilk colored runt Frenchie, who was so small that she has the luck to be puppy sized her whole life. All of the green space dogs in PDGCC, a diverse bunch but all with amazing hoomans attached.

I interact with so many more lovely and awesome people on our walks. Even if it’s just for a quick laugh about my goofball dog, it’s more than I would connect when I was alone walking. CoCo beings me out of my shell on the daily with others. It brings credibility to the premise of there really is good people out there, she introduces me to so many of them.

Leo’s hooman is a wonderful person named Keli. While our dogs run rampant on the beach, we have the conversations of everyday life. Our families, our businesses, sometimes our dreams and plans for the future. It’s great to have a new friend that is so easy to connect and share with.
When we are in PDGCC, we stop in the mornings on our green space walks and drink our coffee with Aunty Lynne and Uncle Dave. They have the sweetest little dog family and also the sweetest big hooman family. They think CoCo is the best, she gets away with everything at their house! Sometimes I think they love my dog more than I love my dog! The funniest was Dave putting peanut butter on his nose so CoCo would like his face!

I feel blessed to have these people in my life and it is all because I took my dog for a walk.

Now sometimes I do miss the music and being alone with my thoughts, but I can always find another 20 minutes in my day for a quick meditation session. For sure my walk times have increased, no more under ten-minute kilometres, we’re lucky if they are under 15 minutes!

But I wouldn’t trade my CoCo dog walks for anything.