Walking Drak

Drak update!

Having a blind dog is weird. He's settled into our home and yard well enough that it's easy to forget that he's blind when he's in our home and yard.

When he had been here just a few days, we tried to walk him in the neighborhood. We only got a couple of houses away - he didn't trust *me* yet, and he was totally spooked by being in a new environment, and just refused to come along.

Now that he's much more settled in, we tried again today. Going down the 2 front steps is still a complete non starter. Becasue he can't really see how far it is, going down off of just about anything is really, really scary for him. It took time just for him to get used to going down the 2 steps from our deck to the grass, something he encountered multiple times every day, so that wasn't a big surprise.

I carried him down the stairs, but from there he walked really well! He followed me, did some good sniffing, and wasn't too scared overall.

Two "funny" things - he was sniffing out on the street strip and slipped off the curb. I guess he'll figure out curbs eventually! And when a car drove by, not particularly fast or loud, the noise *freaked* him out. He calmed quickly, though, and we kept walking. I like to joke that he has the best emotional regulation of anyone in this house, because he's really good at calming down after something spooks him.

We didn't go far - it's only in the high 20s today, so it was COLD. But it was definitely a successful walk!