A Hopeful Solution?

Moving to a little colder climate plus losing the yard and living high above the ground in an apartment has caused some lifestyle adjustments for the family.  Many of those adjustments are ones we are making for Jose's sake since he still needs to potty and exercise.  This is generally not a problem, but during the day when it is just me and Zach at home, our excursions aren't exactly meeting the dog's needs.  Zach tires quickly (walking in the snow is exhausting), plus when it is really cold he isn't eager to stay out for long.  So, I applied a little brain power and decided perhaps if Jose were pulling Zach, he would get more exercise and Zach would be willing to go for it.  I certainly tried pulling Zach while walking Jose and it was not a fun experience for any of us.  So, I did some research and ordered a harness.

Finally the harness arrived in the mail and we tried it out the very next day.  I see people use the term "epic fail" frequently, but that attempt could definitely be described that way.  Zach and Gracie both wanted to be pulled.  It was after school and kids and dogs were all over the place.  Jose was VERY distracted.  It was just awful.  I won't go into all the details but when I finally had both kids and dog back safely in the apartment I was close to vowing to never take any of the anywhere again.  Luckily I didn't make the vow and got over it fairly quickly.

Anyway, today we decided to give it another try.  This time it was just me and Zach during school and work hours, so we had the whole park at our disposal.  This time it went much better.  I need to make a few adjustments overall, but for the most part it was great and I think we all got a bit of exercise.  Zach fell off a few times, and one of those times Jose decided to go on a solo sprint.  Luckily he came back.  After he seemed tuckered out, we went over to the hill so Zach could do some sledding.  He just opted to roll around for a bit and we were done.  We'll see if it works on a regular basis.