Things to Worry about Walking your Dog

  • Is it too hot to go out for a walk?
  • How much shade can we find on the way to the park?
  • Is the water in the pond/stream/puddle dirty?
  • Now that it’s cool enough to go out, won’t there be increased danger of sandflies?
  • Will there be petardos on the street as we pass?

Today was very hot and as I didn’t get up till 11am the sun was too strong for the first walk to be comfortable.
There was shade but even just crossing the open spaces in the park made Bonnie pant.
Many of the water fountains aren’t working – a money saving decision perhaps? So it is tempting to use the ponds but who knows what that water is like. The Congost is definitely polluted from the factories so I try to keep Bonnie out of there.
It got cooler around 8pm. Sunrise and sunset are supposed to be the worse time for sandflies. These are little biting insects which can carry the dreaded leichmaniosis.
Duna wears a Scalibor collar, Bonnie is part protected by Advantix and neither of them have had the vaccine because every time I read about it I see so many concerns about side-effects. The decision is still in the balance.
It is Saturday night and as the celebration of Sant Joan approaches  there are more and more petardos going off in the streets. These are sort of bangers – some large and some small. It is best to avoid small groups of young boys at this time of year. At times this evening it felt like a war zone with gunshots all around – but they are only fireworks and Bonnie actually ignored them most of the time.
We survived the walk.
There were swallows and swifts and bats all flying around together as we turned for home.
The frogs were croaking loudly by the river and the banger boys had gone home to prepare for a night out.