June 10, 2003
Biker Babe!
7:00 p.m.
It was generally quiet day for us. No High Park because the weather was too unpredictable (the high was only 19C - 65F - and it felt colder with the wind).
Instead, we went on several very fun walks and played in our park. We've been seeing the neighbourhood puppies a lot lately. These are the same puppies that belonged to the Cookie Lady's dog. They are now all in their new homes, mostly around the neighbourhood. And very, VERY briefly, they are all a perfect size for Dusty to play with (this won't last - those pups are going to be HUGE!). So Dusty had a really nice playtime with a big brown puppy and it completely wore her out.
In the afternoon, we tried out the bicycle dog basket that I made for Dusty last week. I had walked her around the basement in it, but had not yet taken it to the road.
I'm not sure if Dusty was exactly enthusiastic about this adventure, but she didn't protest when I strapped her into the harness and put her in the basket.
Her preferred stance for riding is with back legs splayed for maximum leverage. She faces to the right, better to sniff and check out the activity on the sidewalks (if she was a British dog, she would face left, for the same reason).
She was incredibly calm and my frequent glances back at her revealed that she had her nose to the breeze and her ears were perked. We didn't venture out of the neighbourhood today, but as she adjusts to this new mode of transportation, we'll take some excursions into the city. Just another day in the life of a city dog.
The biggest barrier right now is my own fear that something will happen to her, but I'm a careful cyclist and I'm sure a ride to the ferry docks on a weekend wouldn't be too terribly traffic-y.