There was some discomfort in our family this morning. Fate and Red wouldn’t  eat, both have been squatting with some loose stools, and I hurt my back mowing yesterday. I’m thinking infection.

The vet is off until Wednesday, and I’m not going to an emergency veterinary clinic, which costs $400 to walk in the door.

They look healthy and active to me, so we’ll wait a bit. If it goes on, I’ll look for an open vet in the area (our regular vet is closed for the holidays).

A rocky start to the Fourth, so I suggested a “defiance” walk up our nearby country road, a hill we often walk up in the morning.  I can barely stand up straight, so I like the idea of this parade of the impaired. Maria, as usual, is fine. The walk started out to be painful, but my back loosened up.

We decided to take Gus on her first walk. It was great. We walked him on a leash up the hill, then took the leash off for the walk down, the hill is about 1.5 miles.

He stayed right with us, he followed Maria along, and when I fell back to take the photo, he turned to wait for me. Gus is a family dog, he likes the family to be together. It was his first walk and his longest. At the bottom of the hill, he got tired and I picked him up and he fell asleep  in my arms.

I see this breed does not have the stamina of the border collie, but he loves to come along and sticks with us. I like the fact that in a little over a week, he is housebroken and walking with us, he made it the entire way, up and down. It was a nice sight, seeing the three of them (four of them) walking together.

I like the idea of giving dogs a chance to succeed. If you start out doing that, they will get the idea. Gus will not have a habit of running off.