Speaking of dogs' paws . . .

Yes, dogs do have lovely paws -- I myself love to feel the soft little pads of both of my dogs' paws -- lucky me, they let me fiddle with their paws whenever I like. But here's a little sad story about what happened to little Midge's left rear paw today . . .

We were happily following the path at Beaver Lake with our friends, Sarah, Charlie, Tarka, Jan and Macy (you have to guess which ones are the dogs!). About ten minutes into our weekly walk at the lake, I noticed Midge hippity-skipping along using only three legs; she was immobilizing her left rear hoof, just holding it off the ground. Uh-oh, I thought, what has she stepped on?

We watched for a few more minutes as she continued to keep up her pace with the much larger dogs, and she was still not using that fourth leg. So we stopped and Sarah and I looked at her foot, between the toes and all -- dear little thing (Midge, I mean) -- she didn't even flinch.

Anyway, we kept going along the various paths and Midge was super keen and kept up well, no complaints. At home, she of course rested on the couch buried in a super softie for the afternoon. On a short pre-dinner around the block stroll, she was still hippity-skipping a little bit, so I will just have to watch over the next few days and see what becomes of her hop-scotching!