Taking the Easy Way

Let's be clear, I don't think that taking the hard way is always the morally superior way.  But sometimes, I do think I cop out a bit. Right this minute, I'm thinking about this as it pertains to Finnegan.  To be slightly grandiose, I sometimes think that my work and relationship with Finn are a big giant symbol of how the rest of my life is going.  And because this space is where I come to figure things out, this is what we're going to reflect on today.

There is a dog park in town, and it's a delight.  It's an easy way for Finn to get off-leash time and still be safe.  I'm pretty sure that if I let him off-leash in a regular park, he'd be in Indianapolis before he started to wonder where that lady with the food had gotten to.  Most of the time, the other dogs and the other people at the park are competent and careful.  I've met some really interesting people there.  All is well.

But/and going to the dog park takes no effort on my part.  I can keep a watchful eye on Finnegan and still relax.  It's the perfect solution for exercising Finn after work, or when I'm too stressed to figure out where to go and what to do with him.  Seriously now, how sad is that?  I'm too tired to figure out what to do with him?  That, right there, cuts zero mustard in the relationship building process.  I can do better than that.  Besides, I've said before that exercising with Finn is part of how I intend to reclaim my own physical fitness.

So, there's no problem, per se, with going to the dog park.  Finn has fun there, and he has things to learn there -  including how to come when called when there are distractions.  This is a good thing.  But he needs to practice that in other, less challenging environments first.  We have trails to hike and classes to attend and races to run.   We have rivers to swim and kayak.  There are things to do and adventures to have.  We're busy creatures, Finn and I.  Do we have time for the easy way out?

Only sometimes.

But because this is about baby step transformations,  we are only adding two little things in the next week or so: advanced manners class begins on Monday and, because it appears that there might be one nice day in the next week or so, we'll go to Shabbona Lake State Park that day.  On a long lead, it's possible that I will let him swim a bit.