Dark

One of the problems with switching to daylight savings time is that now it's still dark. When before it was getting light out by now. That makes for dreary dog walks with Kooper. And although the birds sing in the morning darkness, everything else is muted. Colors. Movement. People. Even dogs. Kooper walks much slower in the darkness of the morning than during the daylight hours. In the mornings he usually dallies behind me on his leash and occasionally trots to catch up. During the day he takes the lead and I scurry to keep up with his tugging. He tends to stop and sniff more in the mornings. But is more deliberate and walkative when it's light.

I don't think it's that Kooper feels more secure when he can see what lies ahead. Because dogs tend to rely on their noses more than their eyes anyway. Maybe he's just not awake yet in the early morning. Maybe his biological clock doesn't kick in until the sun peaks out. He might have a clock that's the opposite of mine. While I would prefer an afternoon siesta, Kooper is in high gear then, ready to tear out and chase rabbits and deer and bears (if there were any around).

We did spy a raccoon the other morning near our house. Urban wildlife. It waddled quickly into the nearest storm sewer when it saw us coming. Time for the raccoon to settle in for the day. The sun would be up soon.