Thursday 24 December 2009

walking the dog on Christmas Eve

Penny and I have just come home from a brisk walk around the streets, passing houses with carols drifting from the windows, a church with families pouring out in happy clusters, supermarkets with shoppers racing for last-minute ingredients.

Perhaps if I hadn't had a dog I might have stayed at home, resting from the ordeal of roasting my first-ever turkey.

But I do have a dog, and she wanted to go out, so I did.

And that's what dogs do for us - they get us out in all weathers and on all occasions - as I just read in a post at Dog Blog, reporting on a NY Times story about a study that found if people have human walking buddies they don't walk as briskly or as consistently as people who walk with a dog.

14 comments:

Molly the Airedale said...

Good for you for getting your mom out, Penny!
Merry Christmas to both of you!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Slavenka said...

Čestit Božić or Merry Christmas to you and your family!

parlance said...

Maggie and Mitch, and Slavenka, Merry Christmas to you also!

curator said...

Merry Christmas, Parlance and Penny! I am sure the turkey was delectable. Warmest wishes for the season!

Sue said...

When I was a kid living at home I always had a dog. When I got my first place of my own, I found myself sleeping all weekend. I got a dog to make me get up and out and start moving around. I haven't been without one or ten since. Merry Christmas.

Unknown said...

It's Christmas day and I wanted to stop by and wish: A Merry Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Twink!

Mary said...

Hello from New York. I have been interested to see people out walking the dogs in the cold weather. If you have a dog, you have to go out. I even noticed a woman out at 1.30am on Christmas morning. It was cold, dark and late! Some dogs have coats on but most just wear their fur. And none of them get to have warm boots.

parlance said...

I wonder whether they dogs feel the cold, if they spend most of the day indoors and then go out into freezing weather without a covering. I read somewhere recently that dogs have a higher internal temperature than humans do, so maybe that is something to do with it.

parlance said...

Sue, that phrase, "a dog or ten" sounds so lovely!

parlance said...

Twinkietinydog, I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas.

parlance said...

Curator, amazingly, the turkey was delicious! It was a free range organically fed one, so I thought I could rest easy that it had had a good life.

Unknown said...

Just wanted to respond that I did indeed have a great celebration, just as you wished it. I hope you did too. Can't wait to hear about if you want to share.
Twink!

Mary said...

I have just been to a local bank and was amazed to see someone bring her dog in. So it has to go in and out of warm buildings while it is out walking. Lots of temperature adjusting - I am having trouble with also, very cold out so I rug up and then very warm inside and I melt!

parlance said...

Mary, I wonder if it's because it's not humane to leave a dog shivering in sub-zero (or thereabouts) temperatures. In which there might be a case to be made here about the well-known fact that a dog can't be left here in a car or in the sunshine, due to their high internal body temperatures.