It’s true that sundays are the day of rest; well certainly in this house anyway. However, I’m not sure that this has got across to our dogs as yet as they’ve just had a huge tussle in the middle of the living room floor. Playful of course but it’s so good to see them do this as it is a way of them relaxing and feeling free. I’ve had Viking for around 6 months now and he’s settled in really well; especially as he has a lively play mate in Rosie. I know that this is a well worn statement, but it has been another busy week at work and at home. The saving grace was that I had a day off on friday which was very welcome and also well used in terms of getting jobs done, planning ahead for our holiday and also attending a work colleagues stag night. Yes, I know the traditional image of the latter is of a very boozy pub crawl but this just involved going to one pub and then onto an indian restaurant for a curry. It was nice to see him so happy and also really good that both places were not too busy and overcrowded. You know what my feelings towards crowds are.
Mentioning Viking, he has over the months that I’ve had him, displayed a real nervousness about travelling in cars and also on very overcrowded trains. In with respect to the latter, this only generally applied when there was no room at all to move on the train and thankfully this is improving the more we travel together; it really is a confidence thing. In terms of car travel, he has displayed quite a bit of nervousness, which has resulted at times in him showing great reluctance to get into cars and on occasion he has just refused to budge. Observing this and reflecting further, I firmly believe he really doesn’t like getting into small spaces. On trains, he does tend to like having his head poking out into the aisle, giving himself a sense of space and room. Therefore, cars do pose problems and understandably he gets nervous.
Therefore, we’ve enlisted the help of his instructor from guide dogs, who provided him with an excellent opportunity to hop in and out of cars last wednesday. He did this really well and it was pleasing to see him feeling more relaxed about this. Sadly, taxi companies in our area tend to insist that we put our dogs in the foot wells of the back seat when we travel with them and I know for sure that Viking cannot and most importantly should not put up with this.
Taxi related, I have been giving some serious consideration to how I travel to and from work. The trains are generally becoming much busier and less reliable and therefore causing more concern at the start and end of the day. Although I only travel in and out of leeds three times a week, it still feels like I’m doing a lot of travelling for the distance travelled and the time spent. It has been suggested to me that I consider asking access to work to fund taxis for part or all of my leeds commutes. It’s a good thought and certainly something I’ve considered before, but there are two things that are really preventing this. Firstly, with viking’s approach to travel highlighted above in mind, I couldn’t guarantee us even getting to work as he would refuse to get into the taxi from time to time. Secondly, if we were to travel to and from work by car, this would take away another source of exercise for us. I am keen to lose a bit of timber (weight) and therefore walking to and from the station is a way of me keeping up some level of fitness. It’s a really hard balance to strike but there are so many factors in doing this. I’ll continue to review this as things may well change in the future.
It has been quite a varied blog entry this week, but I’ve really enjoyed reflecting on some of the things that have happened over the last seven days. Next week promises to be as busy, but for the time being, I’m very glad it’s sunday and the weekend.
Have a lovely week ahead and take good care.
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