Dreaming of long walks ....

This cold snap (and Turbo's not fully healed knee) has curtailed the long walks he looks forward to and loves so much. The photo above is from a trip last summer to Riverside Park in the Upper West Side where his dad used to live. It was the opposite of the current temperature (hot as hell) and he had a ball! Turbo lives in upper Chelsea, away from the big parks but he still loves strolling the streets and visiting his favorite haunts. He does get to the dog runs to exercise too. His favorite is the Chelsea Waterside Run at 11th Avenue and 22nd Street. They've been having trouble with some mystery substances that are causing dog illnesses though so it's a good thing that he can't make that trek right now. Hopefully they'll have the problem cleared up soon. His other fave is the Madison Square Park Dog Run although that's where he hurt his knee. It had nothing to do with the run and everything to do with the 15 extra pounds Turbo was sporting at the time. But now that he's lost the weight he'll be happy to return once the knee is fully healed.
On his neighborhood jaunts he loves to visit the Commerce Bank on 7th Avenue and 26th Street because he's always welcome and they have treats for him (and the BIG one's at that, not the dinky training treats he gets at home). And they're open 7 DAYS A WEEK!!! You can't beat that! Well, that's almost true as another favorite stop is Pet Central. Either the one on Sixth Avenue near 27th Street or the one on 23rd Street, though the Sixth Avenue location is closer to home and the one he gets to most often. It never gets old dropping in to sniff the toys, food and to sneak a lick or two of the rawhide chews. And if there's another dog he can say hi to, what a BONUS! But in any case there's always a treat waiting for him there as well, and he knows it. They are open 7 days a week too. Turbo loves stairs for some unknown reason (although he's forbidden from taking any at the moment) and whenever he gets to visit Universal Gear on 8th Avenue (near 17th Street) he loves bounding up and then barreling down their staircase much to his dad's chagrin. One of the last stops on his long walks is usually the Gap on 8th Avenue & 23rd Street where he loves to sprawl out on the nice, cool, concrete floor. The associates love to say hi to him and he eats up all the attention. They don't have treats but he forgives them for that. Hopefully the weather will turn milder soon so that he can resume his neighborhood rambles and maybe find some new places to drop in.