DAY ONE

My first run with Blue was AWESOME!

I was expecting the worst. Walking with Blue some times is a chore. A little background on Blue . . . he is a one year old Border Collie. Yes people, a Border Collie, not part husky, not part terrier, or whatever else you think he is. He is a Split faced, tri-coloured, smooth coated Border Collie. Yes he has one blue eye. No that's not only a husky thing . . . but I digress. Because he is still a "puppy" he is curious - we stop to sniff a lot. When we aren't stopped, we are pulling on the leash to get to the next thing to sniff. Because he is a Border Collie, he is a working dog, a herding dog. He likes to herd things . . . He is extremely focused when he wants to be. If he is in herd mode (or as we say at home - play mode) he will stay focused on his item forever. If we are playing with a ball and he sends it back to you and waits for you to throw it - he will stay in position until you do - it could be 5 minutes later . . . he hasn't moved. When he's out and about on our walks and people and dogs come up towards you he will go down on the ground and NOT MOVE until the thing he is watching is about 4 ft away . . . and bang! He's off the ground and at them in a flash! He's actually just playing but the people don't know that.

Sooo the point of that was to say - walks sometimes are a little much, so running  I wasn't sure what would happen. I sort of expected the running to make all of the above worse. Or at least him stopping every 30 seconds to sniff . . . or jumping up at me because he's so excited . . . or biting the leash . . . or chasing birds, squirrels, rabbits, dogs in yards . . .

As it turns out - he was an absolute angel. So much so, that it scared me. All I could think was "Uh oh, the next one is going to be SO BAD I know it!" lol

So while we are running, I'm trying desperately to figure out why this is going so well?? Two changes have been made:
1) the obvious - we are running and he loves it
2) he's in a harness and the leash is attached on the top of his back to the harness not his neck collar

I decide that both are correct. I decide to check with his original owner who had him for his first 8 months . . . yes, she always walked him in the harness. Her husband walked with leash and collar. Bingo - he was raised in the harness! Nice and calm he was. He was also happily running along with me.

I am in my glory. First day and we had success!

P.S. We did not meet up with a single person or dog . . . it was 6:15 a.m.  . . .