These Sneaks Were Made For Walking

Despite my  bad knee I have been walking two miles a day.  This has very little to do with my weight loss efforts and everything to do with my dogs.  You see, prior to my  knee issues, when I walked a lot despite being fat, I would take my beasts on 3 to 5 mile daily walks 4 to 5 times a week.  I did the Avon walk each year and I needed to train.

When the knee issues got really bad, I was told to do water exercises with the fat, old ladies at the Y.  It was that or I could bike.  Neither work out is dog friendly…and frankly I am not a huge fan of either one.  I do however love to walk.  I like zoning out, saying hi to other wanderers and the general paceof hoofing it through the neighborhood.  I have been missing it but I have been afraid to walk much more then through the grocery store.  A swollen, painful knee cramps my style and that tends to happen when I am not careful.

Sunday night something happened that changed EVERYTHING.  My 40 lb very muscular mutt (we think she is part Pit), Bessie, went all postal on my poor 9 lb mutt (a Frankenstien of a dog that looks like a mini-terrier on acid), Daisy.  Bessie actually drew blood. Fortunately, the injury was minor and Daisy was okay, but I have 4 calves to think about and I can not have an aggressive dog.  Calves, mine and other folks’, are constantly in and out of my house and I can’t be worried that they are not going to depart in one piece.

I was beside myself.  Bessie has been a great dog and has never once behaved aggressively for the 4 years we have had her.  Then all of the sudden she just went postal.  I did what any good dog owner would do.  I checked out Cesar Milan’s website.  The Dog Whisperer says that often dogs that are aggressive are simply not getting enough exercise.   They have a lot of energy that they need to get out somehow and if you don’t get them moving they will find a way to exert themselves, even if it means mauling a member of the pack.  That actually made a lot of sense to me.  I bet I’d be much less likely to bitch at the Bull if I was exercised daily.

So, in an effort to save my  dog from a trip to the Humane Society, I cautiously took her, and her faithful companion, on a 2 mile walk last Monday.  I took the flatest route possible which is important when you have knee issues and I wore these special shoes that my mom bought for me that are made for fat, arthritic old ladies. They are called Abeo shoes and you can only get them at The Walking Company.  I have no idea how my mom found them but they truly are amazing.  Apparently they were designed at Stanford University specifically for us  fat, arthritic old folks. I won’t go on and on about them as this is not a sponsored post but if you are a fat, arthritic old person with knee issues, buy these shoes, whatever the cost.

I iced my knee that first night and the next morning, my knee was fine…so…I did the same thing Tuesday….and then Wednesday…and then Thursday…and Friday too.  My knee was a bit sore and puffy Friday afternoon and Saturday, but nothing tragic.  I made the Bull pick up the slack over the week-end and rested and iced my sore, only slightly swollen knee.  Tomorrow morning, I will resume the walking routine and am cautiously optimistic that both my knee and my beasts, will continue to behave.

Looking back,  I am sort of happy that Bessie tried to kill Daisy; it has forced me to try something I would have been afraid to do otherwise and I now get to return to an exercise I actually enjoy.  Hooves crossed that the positive results continue.

Moo!

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