It was raining this morning too, so I stalled, hoping to catch a small pause and take Pascal for at least a little walk. Finally around 10:00 my wait paid off and the rain stopped for a short time. I put Pascal’s raincoat on over his other coat and carried him to the car so he wouldn’t get his feet muddy- (I don’t know what I was thinking, we were going for a walk!) I parked the car while Pascal excitedly barked our arrival. I unfastened his seat belt and lifted him, wriggling to go, from the car. Noticing sprinkles, I opened my umbrella and we started walking. We began in our usual “take-off” mode,  Pascal walking very quickly ahead, with me at the other end of the leash saying, “Wait up! Slow down!”  I think I must say that out of habit, because I can’t remember a time where it’s ever actually had an effect, but oh well-  We walked about two blocks when I suddenly realized that Pascal was no longer in front of me, in fact he was walking slightly behind, and very close to my side. I thought, oh he’s so smart~  he’s trying to get under the umbrella. I tilted it to cover him and we continued walking. From the corner of my eye I could see that every few steps Pascal would pick up his back leg and hop once- continue walking, and hop again. He had slowed way down. As I started to question what  was going on, I heard the clink of metal hitting the sidewalk. I looked down at Pascal and realizing what had happened, found his situation so funny! He, however, didn’t look a bit amused~

The belt on his raincoat buckles around his back with two metal rings the belt  weaves through. It always gives me trouble and usually at some point, comes undone . Today being the first day he’s worn his raincoat this year, I had forgotten all about the silly buckle.

When I heard the “clink” and looked down, the belt was totally undone and both  straps were dragging on the ground, leaving the collar to be the only place the coat was attached. As he walked the coat straps were getting in the way of his back leg and the coat was slipping on his back from side to side, which explains the bizarre hop!! He was trying to balance the coat and at the same time keep the straps from tangling around his leg!

I fastened the buckle and we started walking. Our next few steps  walked us right into an icy wind. Pascal immediately sat down. “Come on!” I said, tugging lightly on the leash, but I could tell that he was going nowhere- unless it was back to the car. Knowing from experience there was no way he was going to walk in the wind, I turned around and started back-  (He practically ran back to the car.)  That was today’s walk! That’s two days in a row that we’ve missed and I think rain is forecast for tomorrow, too! Our “spring” was very short-lived. At least we enjoyed it while it was here~ and I have a feeling it’s going to return soon!