Dogs: A walker's best friend

Believe me, this dog is no couch potato.

Ever try to exercise with a friend? You arrange to meet at 6am for that walk, run, swim, step class. It works great until one of you gets bored (me) and blows off the other. "My kid is sick." "My husband has an early meeting." In comes Chloe.

I got Chloe in a fit of maternal instinct (I was pregnant at the time) about six years ago. I vowed I would walk her *every* day. That went fairly well for a few years but a couple of winters ago we both got cold feet. Her tootsies got sore walking on salt encrusted ice in our neighborhood. I almost had a fit when I saw her holding that hind leg up - not the knee again! But she was just cold. Subsequently we quickly got out of the habit of walking at all. I've been feeling pretty badly about that lately and decided to do something about it. Due to the recent thaw and rain the street is pretty clean. Over the weekend we managed to take two walks. Yes two! (applause). We both enjoyed it.

Chloe is so forgiving. She doesn't make me feel terrible about all the walks we missed. She might not even remember them at all! And she's smart. The morning I took her out the first time she got right up when I did, ears perked, and looked at me. "Are we really going?" She seemed to ask. There's no negotiating with a dog. She doesn't say, "it's raining, let's wait until tomorrow." In fact, I know that rain enhances the smell of smelly stuff. She likes that. Chloe is always up and ready to go. She can take a nap later. Chloe is a motivator because she's always enthusiastic, waiting by the door, ready before I am.

I'm including Chloe in my little fitness quest. I read an article that says to exercise on "most days." How often is that? That's just excuses in the making, my brain trying to do that counting thing. I'm going to ignore that and try to take my dog out more often. It benefits us both.