Running with Kate

(As told by Mr. Fergus)

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My favourite thing in the whole wide world is to run with my girl human! It's AWESOME. We go everywhere together. The best is when she takes me to that place with all the trees and the sticks and the other dogs, and she lets me run around without that rope thing that is usually around my neck, and I sniff all over the place and play with other dogs and eat sticks and run super super super fast, way faster than girl human does! She really kind of slows me down when she makes me wear that rope thing.... But it doesn't matter. Cause I just LOVE running with my girl human.

And I'm pretty sure that my girl human loves running with me too. Sometimes, we have to stop and wait before we can cross a street because of all the cars, and she makes me sit, and she pets me and bends down and kisses me and says, "You're such a good running partner, Fergus!" in a really high voice which means she is happy. And I know that she likes it when I keep scary people away from her in the dark by barking at them, cause she always pets my head after I do that and tells me that I am a good boy. And sometimes, she looks down at me when we are running together and she is smiling at me and she says really nice things to me in a nice soft voice. I know she loves running as much as I do!

But sometimes, she can't run with me. And that makes me a little sad. Well, as sad as a happy dog like me can ever really get, I guess. And I know it makes her even more sad when she can't run. Cause I'm pretty sure the best part of her day is when she gets to run with me before she goes off to that place that she goes to all day long!

So girl human was pretty sad a couple of weeks ago. She spent a whole day, a whole night and almost another whole day away from home. When she came back, she was walking really slow, and she smelled really funny (but she wouldn't let me sniff her, even though I was just trying to figure out where she had been). I kept wanting to put my paws on her to give her a hug which she always lets me do after she's been gone for awhile, but this time she wouldn't let me do that either!! She just laid on the couch every day, and she didn't even go outside once! And she never does that!! Boy human had to take me out every single time. And I love boy human, but boy human doesn't run. He just walks. And I really, really, really wanted to run. But I couldn't. So I started doing things like humping my bed (which boy and girl human don't like), and running up and down the stairs, and barking (well, I always bark, but I was barking even more than usual), and whining. And boy and girl human were getting really sad that I was so sad! But girl human still wasn't taking me for a run!!!!

And then, one morning, girl human took me outside. I was so excited, because I was sure that she was going to take me for a run. Except she didn't. Instead, she took me over to Kate's house. I like going to Kate's house. It's right beside my house, but it's so different! There are new smells, and a new backyard that has a different tree than the one in my backyard, and new sticks to chew on, and new stairs to run up and down. Kate's house is pretty neat. So I was super happy to go over there.

Only this time, Kate had on the same stuff that girl human has on when she takes me for a run. And this time, I didn't get to go outside to Kate's backyard to chew on sticks, because girl human just gave Kate the rope thing and left me there! "Girl human!!! Where are you going!!!!" I started to bark and whine, but girl human didn't even look back at me! She just left me standing there with Kate. WHY!!!!???

But then Kate started to run. "Come on Fergus!" she said. As soon as I heard my name, I kind of forgot about girl human. And off I went!

Man, it felt sooooooooo good to smell all those smells as we went running through the streets! And to feel the wind on my nose! I was so happy to be running again! So happy that I didn't even notice when other dogs walked past me. All I wanted to do was run and run and run and run and run and run and run and run and run some more. Which is exactly what we did. Because Kate runs for WAY longer than girl human does. She obviously doesn't get tired like girl human, which is great for me, because I NEVER get tired! I could run all the time!!! It was so awesome.

When we were done running, Kate brought me back to girl human. She was really happy to see me. Kate told her how much fun we had together, and that made girl human even happier. But she was happiest when I went straight to my bed and fell asleep. Because all that running, well, it did make me a little sleepy, I guess!

I got to keep running with Kate a few more times. Sometimes, she took me on more of these really long runs. Once we even got yelled at by a police officer and I just barked back and told her to stop being so mean to Kate, who was just trying to help me by taking me out for a run! And sometimes, Kate took me to the bottom of this big hill near the river, and she made me run up it with her over and over and over and over again. I don't really know why we had to run up and down the same hill. And I really don't know why Kate wouldn't let me go for a swim in the river because I always go for a swim in the river when I am with girl human. But it doesn't matter. I was running! And it felt so good to run!

Now girl human is back to running with me again. And I am really happy to have girl human back because running with girl human is the best thing in the whole wide world! Except that she doesn't go as far as Kate and sometimes it would be nice if she would go a little further because I sure can keep going farther! But maybe I can still go with Kate sometimes! And if ever girl human leaves again for a night and comes back not being able to walk, like last time, well then I'm just going to go straight over to Kate's house and run with her! I sure am happy that she's so close!

Now, even though I already went for a run today, I am off to chase the cat up and down the stairs! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!

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Well, Kate, what can I say that Fergus hasn't already! Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking him running while I was laid up. Not only does he love to run, but, as his incessant bed-humping-while-not-running demonstrates, he needs to run. Such a healthier outlet for all of that pent up energy. I know he had a blast when he was out with you, and that means a lot to me!

Thanks for being such a great neighbour, and more importantly, such a great friend. To Fergus, to Hubby, and to me! You rock!