Today was another day for a walk, with my good buddy Simon. Mary had the other three. Mary, as usual, was almost to the end of the trail where it either turns left to the golf course or continues on out of sight, round a bend. Simon and I were about 60 feet from the gate at the beginning of the trail. Simon didn't want to go down the trail today. He had seen a lady with a large polar bear behind us and wanted to go back. I tugged, he planted his feet, five minutes later we were still there discussing directions and behaviors, but the lady and the polar bear had disappeared.
I finally got him to walk with a compromise; neither ahead nor behind; instead, we went off the trail and into the field beside the trail. Simon loves fields because he can suss out burrowing things. He ran happily for a while, sticking his nose here and there, till he discovered that we had not only been going out but also going down the field and were indeed almost to the end of it. That was also when two enormous dogs came dashing at him, an experience he hates. One of them just clipped him, but that was enough . He quit again.
By this time I had had it with the treacherous little beast. I tossed down my cane, picked him up, tucked him under my right shoulder, picked up my cane, and started walking, whispering in his ear, "Would you rather walk or ride, walk or ride?" Fortunately, after being bounced none too gently for about 30 feet, when I set him down in the grass by the side of the trail, he chose to walk, happily, as if it were what he wanted to do from the beginning. Problem solved, this time, and he thinks he won, I know he does, for I saw him smirk when I put him down.