Long walk calls for frequent pit stops in cool grass

We took Bella for a long walk today at Sedgwick County Park. It was a nice day, kind of warm. She was friendly with a boxer puppy we saw on the trail, and with another mutt as well. She was a good girl, but she keeps her own pace; every time we hit a shady spot, she collapsed in the grass and stretched out to cool off. She must have done this about 10 times on our hour-long walk.

My brother Bud and his family were here to visit this week. Bella was a little nervous about the houseguests-- she barked every time my brother looked her way. But after a couple days, she was willing to take treats from my nephew, Ethan, and he led on her leash nicely. I wish they could have stayed longer-- I think Bella eventually would have relaxed and treated everybody like family.

Yesterday we went to a party and instead of crating her, we let her hang out in the backyard while we were gone. Neighbors didn't leave us any frantic "shut your dog up!" phone messages, so we're going to assume she quietly sacked out under her favorite bushes until we got home.