Walking Chivas and Regal

I didn't baby sit much when I was young, but I did do other things from time to time.   One time my mother asked me if I would be interested in walking some dogs for neighbors who were going out of town.   I liked dogs, so I said sure.

I hadn't been to this neighbor's house before as it was a good bit around the corner from where I lived.  At that point in my life, four houses down seemed like an entire other neighborhood.  

When I got to the house the dogs were barking in the back yard.   They had a huge back yard with lots of ivy-covered ground and old growth trees.    The dogs, named Chivis and Regal, came running up to the gate and were happy to see me.    My mother told me they were named after a famous alcoholic drink which was brown in color.    When I saw them for the first time I didn't think doberman's looked at all like the brown liquid in the bottles in my parents cabinet.

I went into the back yard and played with them for a little while and fed them.    Sometimes I would take them for a walk.   I didn't need leashes I was told because the dogs knew how to heel.    I didn't know what heeling was but my mother told me it meant the dogs would stay by my side.  

I haven't seen dogs do this since that day, but those two dogs would come out of the gate get on either side of me and walk right along with me down the road.   One of them—I think it was Chivas—wouldn't even stop to go to the bathroom; he would just leave a zig-zag trail down the road as we walked.

I believe Regal died over the winter for some reason and the next spring when I was asked to walk Chivas again I remember wondering if he was lonely without his friend.   I had a conversation with him about it as we walked down the street together but he wasn't able to tell me.

The Big Boy Update:  We heard this key child phrase for the first time ever out of my son yesterday: "can you buy me that thing on TV?"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter figured out how to spin and spin and spin the office chair tonight.   She spun herself, Papa, her brother and then she spun herself some more.   I remember how much I loved spinning around in a chair when I was young.