Smiles all around

   I saw this guy on Petfinder tonight (through a friend's Facebook page; believe me, I'm smart enough to stay away from Petfinder!), and loved his smile. And then I noticed that he's wearing one of the leashes that I donated to HSGKC! And that made ME smile ear to ear.
   And then there's my Tay, who never fails to bring a smile to my face. We ran a 5k last night, and he celebrated afterwards with his usual wildman roll in the backyard, grunting and snorting, teeth bared. I love this idiot.

   I mean "idiot" in a playful, goofball way. He's actually pretty smart. I noticed something when we ran last night. We started out fast—too fast for me—I could barely keep up with him. We ran down to the little park with all the Canada geese that the dogs want to snatch. There's a nice paved path that we circle a few times. Halfway through our run, he started to tire, and he slowed down. I had to keep talking to him to encourage him to keep going.

   We completed our last trip around the park and headed up the street toward home. About a mile away, Tay suddenly realized where we were and he TOOK OFF again, running toward home at top speed. I could pinpoint the exact moment when he knew where he was. I don't know how he knew, because we took a different route home and we don't do this route often. But he knew. I always test him and act like I'm going to run past our street or past the house to see what he'll do, but he always steers us on course. So I guess I won't have to worry too much if he ever gets away. He'll be back by dinnertime, I'm sure.