OH had to do some overtime this morning. Her office is near to a canal and so we decided that Harvey and I would accompany her to the office and then go for a walk alongside the canal. Lovely. For those not 'in the know' canals are not always the beautiful strectches of waterways that we like to imagine, especially for dogs. The water is often filthy and full of all sorts of hazards (old bikes, shopping trolleys, the odd Eastenders character) and, worst of all from a canine perspective, they have vertical, perfectly smooth sides - ideal for keeping water in the canal, not so ideal for dogs trying to get out. So, no canal swimming for Harvey - just a nice walk along the tow path. We set off and within 25 metres Harv looks at the canal and looks back to me. "No ...". He dislikes this and races towards me very quickly and then back to his chosen spot again. The process is repeated. "NO ...". He now flies at me in bum-tuck mode - and back again. "Don't you dare!". The Tazmanian Devil appears - ears pinned back, eyes bulging almost out of their sockets with more white showing than colour, hackles up, he flies at me so quickly I briefly consider that he may just treat me as a 15 1/2 stone ten pin bowling skittle! He diverts at the last second and does a huge poo. Ah, I think, he was just going to extremes to 'help' the poo out. I fish out a bag and begin collecting his work. Splash!!! You little so-and-so, you deliberately distracted me with a poo! Harv splashes around for a while before I entice him to the edge and undertake a 30kg one-arm lift (from a kneeling position - too much scope for me to join him if I try from a standing position!) - thank goodness for harnesses. Harv's excitement levels remain very high so I abandon the idea of a canal-side walk, on or off lead, and find a road-walk alternative. He settled down around 15 minutes into the walk and we had a nice walk after that. Our dogs ... they do make you laugh don't they?!
What a funny story! Do you think, maybe, he made the poo out of excitement rather than design - he just couldn't "contain" himself knowing he really, really wanted to jump into the canal.
Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what it was. It just seemed funny at the time to think of it as a 'distraction poo'
