The Walk That Turned Into An Hour

Jasper had one job this morning. Walk from the front door to the end of the road. It took him twenty five minutes.

Not because anything was wrong. Because there was a leaf. Then a smell only he could detect on a lamppost we've passed four hundred times. Then a very important decision about which side of the path to walk on, reconsidered twice. I stood there in my coat, half checking my phone, half just watching him work through it all like it mattered enormously. To him, it clearly did.

I used to find this frustrating if I'm honest. I'd be running through my to do list in my head, wanting to just get round the block and back to the kettle. Somewhere along the way I stopped rushing him and started just going along with it. Best decision I didn't really make on purpose.

There's something in the way a dog walks that a person doesn't do naturally anymore. We walk to get somewhere. Jasper walks to be somewhere. Every few steps he stops, properly stops, and takes in whatever's in front of him like it's brand new information. Most days it probably is, to him.

By the time we actually reached the end of the road, I'd noticed things I normally walk straight past. The neighbour's hedge that's somehow still flowering. A cat watching us both from a windowsill with total contempt. The sound of someone's radio drifting out through an open window. None of it mattered. All of it was nice to notice.

I don't think Jasper's trying to teach me anything. He's a cocker spaniel with a nose that runs his whole life. But I've started treating our walks less like a task to get through and more like the one part of the day where nobody's asking anything of me except to keep up with a dog who isn't in any hurry at all.

We got back forty minutes later than planned. The kettle was still there. So was I, just a bit less wound up than when we left.

If you've got a dog who takes the scenic route to everywhere, you'll know exactly what I mean. And if you don't, maybe borrow one for an afternoon. It's cheaper than most forms of therapy and the company's a lot less judgemental.