I made the mistake of staying up all night long and watching "War of the Worlds," starring Tom Cruise; the movie was pretty interesting until the very end, which I thought ended really lamely with one of those 'quick fix' endings (you know, those endings that occur only because the movie has to end...now). After getting two hours of sleep, I rolled out of bed to resume my weekly dog-walking adventures.

The first dog I started out with was a cute-as-a-button white Maltese-Poodle mix (otherwise known as a Maltipoo). He was an owner surrender, and for whatever reason his former owners had decided to bestow the name Elrod on him. He seemed like a sweet dog, walked pretty nicely, got a little nervous when another dog was around, and rejected all the treats I tried giving him (I even went into the barn and came up with three other different types of treats, but all were rejected).

Then I traded dogs with another lady that was having trouble controlling the little Cairn Terrier she was walking. Her name was Charlotte, and for a little dog that barely came up to my knee, she was strong! She kept lunging everywhere, pulling her leash so hard that even I had a little trouble getting her to walk the opposite way I wanted to go: she was THAT strong.

The first thing I wanted to work on with her was her leash pulling; I actually managed some success in that area , once she figured out we weren't going anywhere if she kept pulling, her bursts of spritely energy only happened sporadically. She wasn't as picky as Elrod with her treats; at least she ate them, which makes it easier to train the dog behaviors you do want them to do.

Then I discovered for all her energy, Charlotte only wanted to play with the other dogs. As a firsthand eyewitness, it was very cute! There was a little Min Pin that came our way and, after giving each other a little sniff, Charlotte started bouncing up and down on her hind legs, her tail wagging so fast it was a little blur. The Min Pin reacted similarly, and when it continued on its walk Charlotte tried to chase after it, then started whining quietly when it was gone. Then whenever a dog came nearby, she would try to greet it in acceptable doggie fashion, and then would bow down towards it, her little bum in the air, waving her tail.

Unfortunately, with all the potential dog friends around, that meant her interest in listening to me became non-existent. As we exited one of the off-leash pens, there was a group of dogs gathered nearby with their walkers. Of course, Charlotte wanted to go off in that direction and play. I was more than happy to do so, but first I wanted her to work for it and go around the trail with me one more time. Well, that plainly was not in Charlotte's mind, and as I turned to lead her in the opposite direction, she firmly planted herself down in the middle of the path. When I say firmly, I mean so firmly it was like she was cemented to that spot: I couldn't budge her! Well, I didn't want her to think I would just do whatever she wanted, so since she didn't want to walk in my direction and I didn't want to walk in hers, we ended up standing in one spot for a good ten minutes. Every now and then Charlotte would whimper and walk a few steps towards me, but as soon as I tried to continue our walk...plop. She would cement herself to her spot again.

Eventually I had to give in and move her in the direction of the other dogs, because we became kind of a dangerous obstacle around for the other dog walkers, and it was the only direction she would go in (Charlotte 1, Me 0).

It was very heartwarming to see two dogs playing happily together, as it's usually the opposite reaction we see more often. When I left for the day, I saw Charlotte alone in her kennel, whimpering softly. I think it would be nice if she was adopted into a home with another canine friend for her.