Dixie's First Bye-Bye with Me.

Andy and Opie

A week and a half ago, I took Dixie for a walk at the newly renovated Pullen Park. I wanted to see what changes were made there. Dixie also needed to burn off some pent-up energy since she couldn't play aggresively with Archie while he was recouperating from his injury.

Things went well overall except for the ride there and back when Dixie was being a pout-baby. Granted, I kept her away from the high-traffic areas closer to the rides and playground. Even when Dixie saw a squirrel at the base of a tree, she only looked at it but did not go haywire like Abby would have. We passed by some kids without any problems.

Dixie mostly sniffed around. She did not need much guidance on where to go. For example, when we were walking on a trail, she instinctively knew to stay on the trail and not veer far off. She almost read my mind on what direction I wanted to go. Dixie was a little hesitant to go down some stairs but she went nonetheless after a little prodding from me.

The only time I thought we may have an issue was at the pond. I thought she was going to go in. Had the fence not been there, I think she would have gone in. Her eyes were locked-in on the water and longed to get in. I left that area before something happened.

Dixie was scared at the statutes of Andy and Opie. She stood her hair up and got tense. Naturally, I went right up to the statutes to see what she would do. For a moment, I thought she was going to bark at those statues, which were donated to Raleigh courtesy of TV Land. Dixie gave the statutes a long, hard look but remained calm.

Overall, Dixie did good considering how high-strung and unmanageable she is.