Who needs a dog walker?

Even before we moved to our current property our standard poodle  joined us on excursions on the trails. When he was just a wee little pup he spent the day tagging along with us in a dried up river bed with a bunch of 4×4 vehicles. He was too young to keep up all day and rode back to the truck on the quad.
If this is the first time you’re being introduced to our little boy, he goes by the name of Moose.
His experience has grown over the last 4 years and his absolute favorite (if I had to guess by his behavior) is trailing behind or trying with all his might to beat the atv.
You would think he’s the only kid that didn’t get invited to the party, by the heartbroken look on his face, when he’s not allowed to join.  His snotty nose glued to the sliding door on the back deck, he stares and waits for his master to return or for the sound of the Polaris Sportsman 500 to die.

It’s routine in the summer time when the mud has dried up to take him on an almost daily run of a few miles on the winding trails on our property. He also makes a great running companion for me during the summer. With the heavy rains and snow fall we get in the winter he rarely gets to go for a jog during the colder months.  The past few weeks have been an exception. We’ve had unusually warm temperatures and very little rain fall.
I took a few pictures of his adventure today. I swear he’s smiling in the one above.
He has been trained to sit and wait for the “go” command. Otherwise, he’d take off at the sound of the engine starting.
If pictures could talk you would hear him whimpering and whining while he waits spring loaded and not so patiently.

I asked for some slow motion action so I could get a decent picture.

He was petering out and out of breath by the time they made it back to the house. He’s still out of shape from the months of not running.
And best of all after a run…

…we have a pooch too tired to get into trouble!