January 30, 2015

We went for a long walk this morning. We first walked to the park where we met up with our friend Denise. A.J. was very happy to see her – he jumped up on her. After that he went back to being on a mission and we walked along the river to a local restaurant and coffee shop. It was cold outside, but the sun was shining so it wasn’t uncomfortable to sit outside with a cup of coffee. A.J. and I sat down while Denise went in to get the coffee. A.J. was such a good boy. He started to cry a couple of times when he saw dogs, but otherwise he did great. We were away from the front door, but a couple of people walked by us specifically so they could pet him. He loved it; he likes being the official greeter.

Denise and I sat and talked for quite a while, A.J. being a good boy the whole time. He even relaxed enough to lie down. When we were done we walked back along the river. Denise and I had a great time, and A.J.  walked nicely with us, not causing any problems at all. We went back to the park where we walked Denise to her truck. We stood and talked for probably another 15 minutes, A.J. standing there quietly the whole time. (He did start to shake at one point, I think he was seeing squirrels. But overall he behaved really well.) We left Denise and walked home, going a total of about 7.5 miles.

And the sun was shining the whole time.