Great morning walk:

Had a great morning walk with Lucy the other day. The sun was out, the sky was Carolina blue, the trees were a vibrant bright green. We walked our usual route and as we were heading back to the house, Lucy suddenly sat down facing the opposite direction. She usually does that when she sees something of great interest to you -- a car coming, a dog or some wild-life. I paused and looked in that direction. I saw nothing of interest. I cajoled her on, "Come on, Lucy, I have to go to work," but she's just move a few interest and then with great stubborness, sit down facing the cul-de-sac behind us.

It was such a lovely morning, that I was actually enjoying being outside and didn't mind a small distraction, but did need to get going in a minute or two. So, I decided to try again to nudge her along the way home. Once again, we made it only a few inches.

Finally, I decided to indulge her curiosity and at this point mine. We walked back up the hill to the cul-de-sac and then I saw it -- the large yellow lab at the top of the hill sitting like a statue. He stared at Lucy and I motionless. I've met this dog many times and the first time I was a bit scared of him since he's quite large and came barreling down the hill at me and Lucy at full speed. Once he stopped though, he was all licks and his tail was wagging. But, this one might be the other dog, who is also friendly, but very shy.

Once we walked closer the dog froze and then got up and quickly turned to walk a few steps towards his house. The moment we walked away though, this older yellow lab started to slowly walked towards us. The moment we stopped walking, he stopped following us. And so it continued that we took a few steps away and he followed us and when we turned around to say hello, he'd stop or take a few steps back.

I really wanted him to come say hello to us. I even crouched down and waved to him, encouraging him to say hello. Finally, I got Lucy to walk home with me, but only by breaking into fast jog, even up our steep driveway. When I got home, Stuart asked me if I were okay because I was out of breath.