I've noticed that Rockwell loves to be outdoors. Even when there is a houseful of people, he will go out for a walk without hesitation. This morning, we had to walk in the rain and still, he appeared to love it out there. It has been raining steadily for over a week but we have been lucky and our morning walks in the park have been dry. Not so this morning. So I put on my wellies and my GoreTex jacket and hat and out we went.

We usually pass quite a few people but today I only saw two Chinese women with a little dog. They were carrying umbrellas and had them braced against the wind. The tiny dog (some kind of miniature poodle looking thing) was dressed in a jacket and was not on the leash. He was obviously an old dog and while he glanced at Rockwell, he otherwise ignored him as we went by. Actually, "went by" is a misnomer because I had to haul Rockwell off the path and make him sit on the grass as they went by so he wouldn't leap on the poor little animal. I tried to point out the other dog's good behaviour as an example to Rockwell but didn't have much success.

Near the end of the loop, there is a large puddle that stretches across the path. If it hasn't been raining for some hours, the puddle disappears but it poured last night and the puddle was as big as I've seen it in a while. Since we were wet already and I had Wellies on, I decided to walk Rockwell right through it. It was a few inches deep and I splashed as I walked through. Rockwell stopped to watch the splashed water in fascination and so I splashed some just for him. He didn't quite make the connection between the water that moved and my boots making it move but I think he will the next time.

Since we were near the end of the walk (and he knows it) he decided he wanted a big branch that had blown down in the night and when I said, "no," he had a little hissy fit. These are the "attacks" I described despairingly over the Winter, when I thought he would never obey me. He still has them from time to time but today, I managed to snap him out of it pretty quickly. However, after he knew I had won that battle, he just lay down in the grass and refused to move. The immovable object confronted by me, the irresistible force. After I allowed him to lie there for a while, I got him up and walking by appearing to head back in the direction we had come and he followed me, even when I turned around and headed home. Hey, I got him in the door the other day by saying "lunchie, lunchie" so I am not above trickery.

Finally, we have a couple of photos as evidence of how Rockwell loves to lick the coffee table after we have had food there. His tongue isn't out but trust me, he's inhaling those molecules.