Balmy summer day

This summer has been unusually cool in Ohio but today we've finally reached 90 degrees, which makes the day feel wonderfully balmy and almost tropical. I started my day late this morning and it was past 11 a.m. when Lizzy and I got onto our trail to see what offerings it had for us.

Although I know exactly where these trails will lead me, I like the fact that you can't tell what's coming around the bend, suggesting an element of surprise that is refreshing on every walk. Yesterday, there was a bunny sitting in the middle of the path until it espied us and quickly vanished, Lizzy in hot pursuit.

The obedience training teacher last week asked us to observe our dogs and to bring a list to class this week with their most salient traits. Lizzy is totally a hunting dog. When she smells a trail, she's relentless and pays no mind to the world (mostly meaning me).

The photo above pretty much gives a sense of what my view is twice a day nowadays, as Lizzy pulls ahead of me for most of the trail, tracking whatever smell she's picked up and, surely, dreaming of the prey she's certain (in her very self-confident mind) to catch soon.

I'm actually considering enrolling her in the hunting class after she's passed obedience training. While the dogs don't do any actual hunting since these are animal lovers we're talking about, they are taught to use their ingrained abilities primarily for fun. I think Lizzy would love that class.

Like Lizzy, I'm an animal of routine, and I'm glad to have her along to share in them since we spend most of the day in each other's company. The dog no me pierde ni pie ni pisada. Where I go, there she must follow, so much so that we joke we should've named her "shadow." But I can feel her getting more comfortable and self-assured with her life among us now that it's a little over 2 weeks since she joined our household.

That's one of the major differences between dogs and people. I could never stand to have someone around the way Lizzy is around me. I'm much too private and love my solitude much too much to enjoy that (that's one of the reasons why my husband and I get along so well, even after 15 years of marriage, because we both appreciate our time apart as much as the time we have together).

Unlike a human might, Lizzy demands nothing of me except to be near, and she gives freely in the equal measure that she receives. I love my dog.