Walking with my cane

I don't think I've mentioned before that I'm walking with the cane again. When Gozer pulls at the leash I go off balance and that's been putting strain on my back which in turn has been making my hip and leg hurt. Of course even when I'm not walking Gozer I've slipped or skidded on ice and that's put strain on my back, too.

Walking with Gozer and my cane hasn't been as fun as you might think. I prefer to walk with her on my right side but that's where the cane goes so I have to put her on my left. Unfortunately, she has a tendency to drift to the right when she's walking with me. She also likes to go from side to side if she gets half a chance. She's only tripped me once so far... but that was one time too many for my liking.

Yesterday was super-warm and gorgeous and then overnight the temperature dropped, leaving a thin film of ice over much of the sidewalk. Gozer was pulling on the leash a lot which didn't make walking over the ice any easier even though I did have my cane. I sort of felt bad for her because every time I'd slip I'd kind of pull the leash back. Then again, if she'd been walking like a good girl with slack on the leash, the leash pulling back wouldn't have been so bad.

Even when Gozer is walking like a good girl and the sidewalks are clear, walking Gozer with the cane poses other problems. My nose runs a lot when I'm doing any kind of exercise or when I'm cold, you see. Letting my nose run isn't an option and sniffing only works for so long so I end up blowing my nose a lot. When I first got the cane I learned how to blow my nose with one hand so that I could keep walking while blowing my nose. With Gozer's leash being controlled by the non-cane hand, there's no free hand I can use to blow my nose. I have to either stop or drop the leash to blow my nose and both interrupt the flow of the walk.

I am grateful that I can walk Gozer by myself, even if I have to use the cane. Still, I'd love it if I could walk without the cane at all, especially when I'm walking our little furchild.