June 22 is Take Your Dog To Work Day!

Apparently, somebody decided June 22 is Take Your Dog to Work Day. I don't disagree with such a notion; I think it's a great idea. Especially because they keep doing studies on people who can take their dogs to work, and coming up with a measurable reduction of stress and an increase in job satisfaction.

But, I can't take Elka to the library. If I was going to commit to the notion that she's really-truly my service dog, I guess it would be no contest, but I don't feel that my migraines, at current, reduce my quality of life such that I suffer from that degree of disability. Some people do, and I know that I'm profoundly lucky. Anyway, I did the next best thing: I took Elka for a walk in the library park.

The library park is smaller than our usual venue, only 5 total acres. To me, it feels a little strange to be bordered by houses and streets on our walk. Elka didn't seem to mind one way or another. She found and delicately sniffed squirrel that was very dead and also (strangely) very flat. Sorry, no picture of that. She got to see one of my coworkers. 

We also inspected the stump of a tree that had blown over. I think it happened last year, but I can't remember the occasion. Irene, perhaps? But, it was a big huge tree, and we were sorry to see it go, certainly.

Though it was overcast, it was still rather hot, so we only went to the library park rather than following my plan of continuing on to the regular park.

I'm very happy to say that despite some skipped days, Elka's loose leash walking is still rather good. I still carry treats, of course (today I had parmesan, which she seems to like quite a lot), but we're on a random reinforcement schedule. She's still very excited at the beginning of the walk, and so I drastically lower my criteria for that portion: no dragging me, stick to one side of the sidewalk. Being aware of this lowers my stress, and in general makes for a far more enjoyable time.