I’m dog-sitting for the next few weeks, while my Mom’s friend has knee replacement surgery. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow, so she brought Robbie over today to get him settled in. She gave him his dinner here and then left while he was eating, so he wouldn’t run outside while the door was open. He’s part terrier so we need to be careful he doesn’t run away- this is NOT a dog that can be outside without a leash!

When he was done eating, Robbie started making these pathetic little sad-doggy noises. So I put on my sandals, grabbed my water bottle, cell phone, house key, and his leash, and off we went outside. We took a nice walk around the block, stopping to let him “water” just about every tree we passed. When we got back home, I gave him some water in a bowl and then we explored the whole house, letting him see that his “Mommy” wasn’t here. Since then, he’s been quite happy, dozing on the living room floor while I was able to start my own dinner and get some computer time.

It’s a hot day, and I probably wouldn’t have gone outside at all if Robbie hadn’t needed the distraction. The walk definitely did me some good. I was careful not to walk too fast and I had my water bottle with me, and I kept the walk short because I didn’t have any way to give him water while we were out. With my fibromyalgia, it’s important that I pace myself; exercising too much, too suddenly, can throw me into a flare-up. It’s a delicate balance for me to increase my exercise without hurting myself.

I think Robbie is the perfect walking buddy for me. He’s so tiny that he can’t walk too far anyway. I’d hoped to get in daily walks with him when I dog-sat him for a week in January, but one or more of the kids ended up taking him for walks and I didn’t often join them. Now, Leah and Hannah are away at camp and Jack has a cast on his left arm. I can’t let him take Robbie for a walk independently because he only has one hand to hold the leash; he doesn’t have a second hand to clean up dog-poop if necessary. This means that I’ll need to join Robbie on his walks, even if Jack’s the one holding the leash.