koda in the grass

Chris samoiloff

A cold nose penetrates those precious moments in between sleep and consciousness. I’m slowly brought into the conscious state. Now the nose changes to a paw on my arm. My arm smarts in reaction to the rough handling it just received. “Off, Koda! I’m coming Koda. Yes, we are going for our walk. Just give me a minute, would ya? Off, Koda!" It’s no use. I’m fully awake now.

I pull on some clothes as a 57-pound bundle of energy orbits around me. I run a comb through my sleep-tossed hair and give my teeth a quick brushing. Nothing fancy for this morning walk, just the basics. I could skip the hair and teeth, but I do occasionally run into another early morning hiker. “Come on, Koda. Let’s go.”

She barrels down the stairs and I follow, slowly, still adjusting to the early morning. I’m not really a morning person, and I’m not really that energetic. So what ever possessed me to get an Australian Shepherd? I know the answer to that question. She was to be my hiking companion. A replacement for my wonderful border collie mixed breed dog that died at the age of fourteen. And she is my hiking companion. And she keeps me from being lazy. Because if we don’t walk, the rest of the day is spent dealing with her bottled up energy. And that is not pretty.

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