Maggie

Maggie Mae is a genteel country lady who found herself in the big city several years ago. She hardly ever knew a leash til she got here, and it took a couple weeks to get her to understand good leash behavior, and that things you find on the ground in these parts are not safe to eat! But she has a really charming desire to please and adapted quickly; she responds to the commands "head's up" (to stop scrounging), and "chill" (to stop pulling). An important part of maintaining this balance is to allow her to act in some way on her instincts, and this lady sure loves to smell the "flowers," if you know what I mean.

But she has tons of energy too, for walking and playing. Maggie has a great time with Stanley and Moby, and the contrast really shows her dual nature. With Stanley she really plays off his puppy energy and almost seems to revert - very cute! And with Moby (he's my herder, remember) she's engaged (they actually kiss!, and they do romp and play) but also businesslike and professional.

Come to think of it though, when she started walking with Mobe a few weeks ago, I think she was a bit rambunctious. She kind of started to go back to scrounging and pulling. It was probably the classic situation when there are changes in the group -- a dog often sees it as an opportunity to advance in status, and makes a move in that direction. Soon enough though, Maggie settled in to the new routine and she's back to her cooperative self.

I actually share this dog with my friend and dogwalking colleague Vlado, which brings up another point. There is very little (if any) competition among Brooklyn's independent walkers, at least in my experience. If anything there seems to be more work out there than we can collectively do, and cross-referrals are common, as are backup/time-share arrangements such as this one.