There's more than one way to skin a cat....er, dog

Today, I had the pleasure of running with two dogs.  Usually, I just run with Beppo, my 11 year old miniature poodle.  Despite the foo-foo reputation of poodles, Beppo is quite the athlete, swimming, running and chasing the ball. He does not act like an 11 year old dog.  Poodles were actually bred as water retrievers by the Germans, and their goofy hair cuts were designed to keep their core temperature warm, while preventing them from becoming entangled in debris while swimming.  But I digress.....

As I was saying....usually I just run with Beppo when I am alone, keeping him leashed because of the maurading coyotes and bobcats  (I have actually seen a bobcat on the trail and some people carry big sticks.). He jogs very nicely beside me.  Today, however, Twiggy ran with us.  Twiggy is my daughter Susan's dog, and is a true 45 pound American mutt; she got her from the city pound.  Susan has moved to New York City, and has decided that this was no life for the Twigs, so she is temporarily residing with me. She is a very sweet dog, but strong; today, she went for a run with us.

The challenge was how I was going to run with two dogs. Twiggy is so strong that she was actually pulls me, even though she has wonderful leash manners.  Now, I am still stiff from Sunday's five miles, and the temptation of getting some help by being pulled by Twiggy was might tempting. This  would not be helping me train--a cheat, so to speak-- so I sucked it up and devised a system to keep both Beppo and Twiggy leashed and close to me without becoming encumbered with having to carry the leash.  Check it out....

They never knew I wasn't leading them......tell me I'm not a genius!