…and the bartender says, “Is this some kind of joke?”

Chronologically, this is the second of three noteworthy things that happened today, but I’m putting it first because it’s probably the most crowd-pleasing and I like to open with a zinger. Who doesn’t love watching Squash run all out, taking me for an exhilarating yet slightly terrifying deer ride, with some fair ON BY action and a bonus “Squash trying to blow off steam running through the grass while Maisy keeps shoving him back on the road” track?

They’re not perfect there at the start when they first see the deer, but there was a day when I would have ended up either in that field or in those woods… or possibly both in that field and then in those woods. I am happy to have put that day behind us. Maybe someday we’ll achieve perfection and someday we won’t, but in the meantime I’ll just hang on and enjoy the ride.

This was the first of three noteworthy things that happened today, and it’s by far the least glamorous but probably the one I’m most proud of. Because of the big difference in their sizes, I run the MPs with two slightly different length tugs. Usually Maisy has the shorter tug, but if Squash is having a particularly lazy or silly day I will give her the longer one so it’s harder for him to slack off. Today, I started out with one configuration and decided mid-run to swap the tugs, and I was really proud of their WHOA and WAIT while I did so. It makes life so much easier.

And this is the third of three noteworthy things that happened today, and the most pleasantly surprising for me so it’s satisfying to use for my closer. I’ve seen this guy walking his dogs at the park before, and one of those dogs is pretty leash reactive. In the past, we’ve usually seen each other from across a road or trail and been able to work out where each of us will go without our dogs having to pass one another at all. Today… not so much, but at least the road was wide enough that as long as we each stayed completely on our respective sides our dogs wouldn’t be able to physically reach each other. I was also prepared to get off the scooter to choke up the line if necessary to walk past, so with no real practical alternative we just sort of went for it.

For those who don’t know, Maisy is also unpredictably pretty leash reactive. But look at my girl, dragging her attempting-to-be-a-social-butterfly partner along without so much as a second look at the other dogs. LOOK AT HER. She’s perfection. A little bundle of black and brindle ON BY perfection.

Monday, June 2: 3.0 miles (29.8 cumulative on the season)