back

I hurt my back this morning in a weird way probably the weird way most backs get hurt/hurt themselves - I think I was bending down for something. I actually thought my liver broke or some other internal organ but now I think it is just strain of some minor otherwise never bothered with muscle, just trying to make itself known.

I thought 'either I can lie down and see if this passes or I can try to crash through' and I decided. possibly stupidly, on the second option. I was just about to take Perry out on our usual perambulation of 2500 steps on a route he knows well and considers to be a satisfactory walk. I started gingerly but picked up pace and ultimately it was fine, though it is still twingey.

What I noticed, which is what I think is the most interesting point here, is that Perry - who I tend to assume is powering along like a demon without really considering that he is on a lead connected to my hand - was actually extremely considerate of my slightly less mobile situation and walked a lot more slowly and sensibly (loose lead, which he sometimes finds difficult to countenance) and was overall just a good boy. People always tell you that your dog is deeply connected to your actions and demeanour but you forget it's the case in the day-to-day. 

Well, the joke's on him because having fully appreciated this I am going to do more disruptions to get him fully attentive to what I want him to do and remind him more in his conscious brain that I am his leader and don't need to be protected from every dog/tall man who comes past. 

While I'm here I'll tell you about yesterday. We went out with Ferdie (I am now ready to officially announce: Barry died a few months ago. Sorry to be brusque about it, I'm not being glib, he was a very, very good boy and he had an incredibly good life, almost to the end) up around the creek almost to the same place we went in the second week of June but not quite. 

We battled some steep creek banks for a while...

and came out where there is a stretch of open, um, stone, sandstone maybe? Anyway it was weird . It was weird because while we have crossed that terrain many times before now it has been covered in, well, it's probably not hessian but if I say hessian you'll get the picture roughly speaking. Or wait, here's an actual picture:

Ferdie, if you're interested, is in good spirits. It's hard to imagine he's old but he is (11 I think) but still the same affectionate and enthusiastic boy though not as naughty and I would say (never say never but...) his escaping days are over. He spends a lot of his time with the cats, which is bizarre but I guess it's like the cessation of enmity in war or something. They seem to get on well together.