My husband and I adopted our dog, Romy, on October 31, 2018. At the time, she was five years old, and had spent a few weeks at the rescue organization we adopted her from outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Prior to that, she had been living at the Newark, New Jersey Animal Humane Shelter for six months, a place that is notoriously hellish for surrendered animals. From what we were told, she was a dog that was moments away from euthanasia when a rescue organization called 11^th Hour Rescue literally came into the shelter and picked her up off of the table moments before she was set to be put down. Although it’s a hard fact to swallow, we understand how a fearful “pitbull” got to that place. After we brought her home, we immediately hired an amazing trainer who helped us work wonders with Romy. She has come a long way in the time we’ve been together.

Fast forward to now, and we’ve moved halfway across the country with her and have settled into our lovely neighborhood. She is in heaven having both of her people home with her 24/7 and now that the weather is a little nicer, the opportunity to sunbathe.

With everyone at home and practicing social distancing, there is a noticeable uptick in people on walks, and in particular dogs with their people on walks. It’s great to see so many people and pups taking advantage of the awesome weather, but this has presented a major challenge for us. Romy doesn’t know how to interact with people (or dogs) outside of her small circle. After trying many different techniques and training methods, we resigned to the fact that we have to meet her where she is. Easy for her… not so much for us. With all of our new human and canine obstacles on our walks, it now means we have to dart and maneuver around like we’re practicing military exercises. I’m sure it’s an amusing sight to see as this muscly dog jumps into the air, pulling her owners around and sometimes hiding between their legs as they yell commands and twirl around trying to find an exit route.

Thankfully most folks are good about taking social distancing seriously, which means we don’t have to constantly cross the street or pull into the alley to avoid others. Thus you can watch us do our fun dance at (at least) a six-foot distance.