Great Leaping Puppies

Puppy walking again this week. This one has spring-loaded paws so every step is an exuberant leap. She is Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout in dog form, when we reach a patch of grass larger than a postage stamp she dashes around me in concentric circles, growing bigger and bigger as I spin round with her trying to maintain some semblance of control over her direction and containing my dizziness.

Everyday as I approach the door and reach my arm out to put the key in, she is already on her hind legs, as tall as a fully grown human – looking at my face as I open the door. She is tall when she is on two paws, but tall enough on four to make most people look at her twice. A teenager on a bike – what type of dog is THAT? Don’t like those usually, yet he wheels closer still. Molly bounds up bouncing around him licking his hand, then scuffs him feebly with another mistimed spring. He backs off, but is interested.
She is a beautiful dog. just in need of more training, but I can't do it now, after all, I am just the temporary dog walker, whilst her owner is on holiday, so unfortunately we are only temporarily friends. Besides, I wouldn’t want to tame her natural happy manner, and her free spirited approach to water, mud, grass, other people’s gardens, and her disdain for private property and a human’s personal space!
She is intrigued with the slow moving shallow river lying alongside our path – why should I prevent her from going in (potential pollution, litter could cut her paws – my sensible side admonishes me). Nonetheless, perhaps it is I who should learn something from her instead. Tackle everything head on, have no curb to curiosity. But sniff everything before poking your nose in!