The walker’s tail.

When people ask me what do I do to keep fit, namely my doctor or health professional, I always say dog walking, a bit of scorn thinking that’s not keeping fit, well here a bit of news for you my Oberon is fitter than most dogs, he has at least 3 hours of walking over fields woods and forests a day, makes me laugh when people say I do 1 hour a day in the gym or swim, compared to what me and obi get up to you got a long way to go yet mate.

Well let me introduce you to the man of the moment Oberon (a mid summers nights dream) his full title but we call him Obi for short, a very mild tempered Tibetan Terrier, first introduced to this fair land during the 50s by the then Dalai Lama, mostly these dogs are given as presents and not bought, Oberon was given to me by my Wife and her Sister, to help me over come my difficulties of health. I remember it so well, Fox handing me this tiny ball of hair and a wet black nose, he was shivering being in a strange place, I just held him hugged him loved him from the second I was holding this bundle of delicate flesh and bone, that would one day become the world to me not that he already did that but as he got older, bolder and wiser and how much I would be lost with out him. That for me was the best ever October of my life, Fox and her sister drove all the way to Yorkshire to collect him they stayed over night in a hotel, I stayed at home watching the telly and got my self a TV Dinner and went to bed early and waited.

It was early evening when he came into my life, scared and missing his mother and sisters, I had a pang of Guilt, doing that to him, to him a big house to explore, his paws touched the ground and he was off looking for his familiar friends, he could find none, except for a few soft toy’s and blanket that was brought with him, so he did not pine for his mum, he still did, a mournful cry, when he did this I just cuddled him kissed him and made his pain as little as possible distracted him with games and tickles.

For the first week of his life he just pottered around getting used to the cottage, from room to room he go, he is such a sniffer, he be happy to have his nose stuck to the ground all day if he could get away with it. It’s coming up Yule and for the first time I will be with out Obi he be home with Fox while I go and do some Yule shopping for the family, up till then he was pleasant but never acted like he loved me as much as I loved him, Fox told me so many times he does love you, but your always with him so he takes for granted my presence.

I grab the 59 to Harlow, and off I go when I get to town I call fox up to let her know I got there, she tells me Obi has been crying none stop, yet I can’t hear him so I think she saying it to let me feel my little boy is missing me, but I do the usual thing of saying I will not be too long and planned to get the next bus, the buses run every hour.

In fact I was gone for nearly two hours, just taking in the shops, waiting in crowds of people trying to purchase Yule presents for young ones, I went from shop to shop and found most of everything I was after the Santa’s stall or grotto more like grotty in my view and its never ending crowd of kids wanting there small presents for a large amount of money and the picture that some big tittied elf takes and charges £5 for the print. As I walk out of the Harvey centre I get another call from Fox you coming home yet he driving me up the wall with his howling, its then I hear it like a long mournful howl like a banshee, awwww I quip he sounds so sorry for himself, then do something about it fox says get home as soon as possible. I can barely get in the door Obi has jumped me as soon as the key turns the barrel lock of the front door, wagging tail and a way he twists and turns at my legs and jumps up his front fluffy paws milk my belly, Fox stands smiling see told you he miss you, I just drop my bags and pick him up and I get licked so much that my whole face is gleaming from dog saliva, my ears do not only get cleaned but nibbled as well, playful and excited yelps of one happy dog, and I feel so loved, we walk out to the back garden and play football, his eager paws chasing what ball is kicked. He has had all his shot’s and can now go out but only for short 30 minute walks, we get him an extender lead, its time for the boy to meet the world, the first dog he meets is K.C a long haired female Collie, she 1 and a half years old playful and a bit of a tease, but she loves him and he loves her, she puts one of her paws on his head to stop him dead in his tracks and from that he learns a valuable lesson about putting his body fully down on the ground, before playing, K.C owners ponder what puppies would be like if the two of them mated? I let it pass I have no intention of letting Obi mate at such a tender age, and anyway his balls have not dropped yet, all he wants to do is sniff piss and poo and play games.

He meets a few dogs that will become firm friends and one dog that we nicknamed the demon dog, a large golden Mastiff, that would like to rip his head off first chance it gets there is always one that for some reason only known to the owner its so aggressive I try as best I can to keep the two apart the demon dog is so big the woman who walks him can’t actually move him he is so strong, and I have to pass with the dog barking and growling Obi at first did the same back and bearing his teeth and snarling but over time Obi just ignores the dum dog, which is great even though they had a fight in the graveyard last year, and the demon dog came off second best cause Obi bite him in the arse, and I was able to pull Obi out of the reach of the demon dogs lead. The owner and my eyes met, she apologised, for the un provoked attack but I could not say anything other than please keep your dog under control, what she did not see was I had my skinning knife on me, I would have put the blade into the dog if it got free of its harness.

Now don’t get the wrong idea of me carrying a knife I have always done so, for practical reasons I live in the countryside, I have come across things that need cutting and stuff, and as for the demon dog yes I would have protected my Obi with my life if I had to, but I do not blame the dog a dog does what it does from what its owners have taught it, the dog is the way it is simply by the ineffectiveness of the owners training, Obi has had training in my book a little too early in life but he listens when I talk to him and he is never off the lead, till I am completely sure he will be a one command and obey type dog, unlike some of the dogs in the town park.

As the month pass we get a lot of snow and Obi absolutely loves it and being a Tibetan, there is a lot of snow there, he right at home, his mad dash up and down the little lanes I make as I trundle around the garden, I try to make a snow man but Obi has other Idea’s and excitedly jump on the heap of snow flattening it, so I decide to build a snow dog and throw it all over him, his coat is shaggy his hair over his eyes its time for his first visit to Natalie my sister in law who is a dog groomer. And fur, paws and chops did fly, his first introduction was not a happy one he howled, chewed and cried constantly thinking he was being killed. It took the better part of 2 hours to do him, but god it was tiring well it was for Natalie and Fox I just kept her dogs happy with the bag of treats I took over for them, thinking that Obi might be a brat, and I was right he was a brat. But he got lots of treats that night and a new toy to play with but he did look good, and walking him all the other owners thought he looked smart. The most part of being with Obi is the walks now over an hour at a time, we walk, talk and play sometime we even sing most of my songs are corrupted versions of songs that has Obi attached to them, my love knows no bounds for this bundle of shaggy hair.

There is nothing better than getting totally lost in the countryside on a nice warm day a rucksack full of goodies and treats and spend the better part of a morning walking in woods ditches and fields, meeting other dogs it was during one of these walks he met Harry and Lulu.

I could see these two little white dogs scurrying towards Obi he lays down on the soft warm ground his head pointed towards the hurried little legs, galloping towards him, they almost jump on him and start to play and obi joins in for the next 10 minutes he run’s jumps and chases the two little dogs around the field or as far as his lead will let him which is around 15 feet.

There mother is Jean and we chat about the nice weather and she tells me that her and her husband have not that long moved into the village our little hamlet is really only a few roads of the main street and its called the street, 4 shops a butcher, post office, café and a hairdressers, church and hall and village hall that’s all it has ooh year and two pubs the cock and Crown, I have never been in the Crown but I have been in the cock on a few occasions mostly to watch football when I did not have sky sports, apparently Rod Stewart likes to go into the pub on occasion since he lives near by and Iron Maiden have a massive house on one of the walks me and Obi wander on I never seen any of them on my travels, mostly just other dog walkers and the occasional bird watcher.

During one early walk, after Fox has gone to work, the first one of the day usually is very long nearly an Hour and a half sometimes more, we came across a couple of air heads smoking weed, there reflexes was so slow, the girl commenting on how nice Obi was, tried to get up from the ground only to discover gravity works and promptly fell flat on her arse, obi amused give them is wicked smile and trots over and licks them furiously the girl holding him, she giggles at how soft he feels, and says it be nice if she had a dog like him, after a few minutes we get on our way leaving the stoned teenagers to get on with what ever they were doing, part of our walk takes us over the M11, a foot bridge spans the whole motor way obi loves watching the cars speed by sometimes letting out a bark to show he can be just as loud as the screaming sports penis extensions.

One of the things I like most about our walks is the thinking space it allows you, and I’m a thinker I love to mull things over in my head, and it can be just about anything from playing my games to something I read to a friend that I want to help, and music I love my music when I walk, and since I got my Iphone I sometimes like to update my Facebook or twitter or text take pictures with my camera, of the blossoms, hedgerows, crops and the wild life if your fast enough to catch them there are so many deer here but you got to be fast to photograph one and as of date I never been fast enough.

Obi is very good he helps me collect firewood from the fields most of the time he bring a branch back to the cottage to chew then leave it for me to put on the fire this is something we do on a daily basis, simply because its good practice, coal and logs are costly and every bit we bring back from the fields count’s towards something so far I have not once had to buy kindling simply be cause there is an abundance of the stuff out side our front door, and I even got quite a few trunks I have dragged over the fields to the back garden and then I cut them up for logs, which is fun cause Obi thinks I getting it for him and he tug’s and pulls it as well, which is fun for both us.

But most of all I like is when we spend the evening in the local Church yard St Mary’s which is down Church lane Sheering, most evenings we spend 20-30 mins drinking my flash of tea, I like to rest cause of my heart I have to stop at some point, this makes a great place to rest my bones before the walk back to our cottage. More to come at a later date this will be really a blog about my dog and me.