The Life we Lead

By Porter ~

Our life has been changed up since mom and dad sold our house and we moved into town. In some ways, Aspen and I aren’t quite as happy. Without our dog door and big yard to roam, our days are spent either lounging on the bed and couch in the house, or on the back deck, both fine options but not delivering the energy release of our former life. Aspen, definitely an outdoor dog, misses being able to spend her evenings lounging on the grass in the front yard. In addition, I am almost always on the leash as we walk through neighborhoods rather than racing about our two acres.

But, I’d say in most ways our life is good. An upside of our new house is that mom and dad don’t have as far to go to work and so they leave later in the morning, and return earlier in the evening, making more time for family time, my very favorite thing.

With no house, yard and garden to work on, it also means that we’re spending every other weekend or so at camp, once again.  Although any family time is great, family time at camp is especially great! I like to have my pack close and in our tiny house on wheels we’re as close as it gets. Last weekend, even though we had a thunder and lightening storm at the beach, once mom put on my new thunder shirt and I had a brief cuddle, I was able to curl up in bed next to Aspen and go right to sleep.

The very best thing about our new life is “the park”. Right next door  there are 40 acres of trails and space to roam. Aspen gets to be off leash most of the time and she runs and runs, when not hopping around in that crazy way she has. Mom and dad don’t trust me off leash, per se, but they let loose of the lease so I can trail it behind me and sniff and mark and run about as I wish, as long as I hang close to them and come when they call me. Now, we ALL know coming when called isn’t my greatest trait, but I’m older now and with our change of address, we get two long walks a day which include stairs and hills. AND there are stairs up into the house. I have to admit that sometimes by the end of the day those are a little tough for me, but mom & dad go slow and let me take my time, helping me out if I need a boost.

Sometimes on our walk we even meet and greet other dogs and their people and often run into Uncle Ken and our cousins Jenny and Lexi.

In addition, Aspen’s continuing education well… continues. Mom is working hard at teaching her to leave cat poop and such tasty morsels on the ground and always come when called. Quite the challenge with the bottomless pit that is my dog sister. To encourage the come, mom and dad carry treats with us when we walk in the park, chicken meatballs being our very favorite, but turkey jerky and other tasty snacks appear as well. I was never much of a food driven dog. Part of why my trainers have called me “challenging”. But I have to admit, those chicken meatballs make me drool, and the turkey jerky is right up there. We spend or afternoons exploring the park and nature, all together, all happy.

Every week we have been getting deliveries; UPS, FedEx, packages from the post office. Mom and dad have a whole room they refer to as the staging room. Although Aspen and I don’t understand it all, there is a lot of work being done on the truck and camper and I think that means that soon all of my dreams will come true when we hit the road as one happy pack, together all the time! That will make me the happiest dog in the world.