The Walking Strike is Over!

Not her best picture, but she was too excited to stop for pics.

Izzy's three and a half month walking strike is finally over and it feels soooooooo good!  After a stormy June, Izzy, my border collie, stopped walking in our neighborhood. I could take her to parks and she was generally fine, but just said "no" to getting leashed up for a walk around the neighborhood.  I missed my daily walking partner. In fact, I was starting to feel very imbalanced. I walked alone many days, but found I missed needing a critical eye for my surroundings. I missed watching for clues from Izzy that something was ahead of us. I even found that I was less observant to the day to day happenings in our neighborhood when I walked alone. I also felt less connected to Izzy which made me feel really sad. Walking together has always been our thing. She has always been my motivator to move, even during my worst RA months. She has walked me through a lot of rough days.

Luckily we have an excellent holistic vet. She recommended slowly getting Izzy back into the a walking routine. My job was to give her special treats for leashing up and getting out of the house. After that, I was to let her lead how far she wanted to go. For weeks that meant we walked to the end of our driveway and got the mail. She was okay leashing up when I told her we were getting the mail, but not a walk. Slowly she started leading me around the front yard and we did that for several weeks. Our vet has also been doing chiropractic care of her since she has had a Hiatal hernia since she was a puppy and it gets out of hand when I go long periods without chiropractic work. In addition, she is treating her for a cough. The cough and hernia go hand in hand and could definitely be a reason she hasn't wanted to walk.

On October 11, she woke up and nudged me to walk. I sarcastically told my son we were going on a "walk" and I'd see him in two minutes. But surprise, surprise! Izzy took off and just kept on going!  We did our usual 45 minute walk around the neighborhood and she has been ready to go every day since then! I am a happy girl.

*Being patient with Izzy has also been a good reminder to me that we have to be patient with our own bodies. Sometimes there is more going on than appears.