We're convinced it's habit, nothing more that leads our little black poodle to resist when we're out on our daily walks; balking, hanging back, and actually digging in when she's gently tugged to encourage her to move forward.

Although she is now into her nineteenth year, she is still in very good physical shape. Our veterinarian is astonished at how well her vital organs are doing their work; her lungs, her heart are in fine shape, and her mobility is excellent. Her sense of smell has not been diminished, although her eyesight, and her hearing have been impacted by age, and she has lost teeth. Her appetite remains robust, and occasionally she bursts into a joyous expression of vitality, when she suddenly begins to whip about in a frenzy of accelerated action, when she welcomes being chased for fun, for briefly explosive moments.

It's this daily walk in our wooded ravine. We've been taking her into that ravine since she was a puppy and she is now an elder stateswoman - or so she seems to believe. It does seem, at times, that she rules our roost. She will, if we don't take her bodily down the stairs of the deck, leap from the top of the deck to the gardens below, rather than trust her failing eyesight to negotiate the steps downward, although the ascent seems no challenge to her.

We don't miss many ravine-walk days; when the weather is cold, blustery and snowy, she and her smaller companion are suitably geared with boots and jackets. But over the years she has slowly, deliberately, begun to balk at the first half-hour of our round-trip over the trails in the woods. Usually, once we hit the middle-mark of our day's roundabout she picks up pace and leads the way, jauntily. Having observed how she negotiates our daily walks, our Apricot male, 7 years younger than she is, has emulated her and now frustratingly, irritatingly, does as she does.

It's baffling, and perhaps only a dog psychologist could begin to hazard a guess as to why these two little dogs behave as they do. Over-coddled? Perhaps. But we know, although they do not, that these daily physical, recreational excursions lead to their ongoing good health. And ours.