My Enthusiastic Girl

Now for something a bit more light hearted...
One of the things that I instantly appreciated about Nala when we were matched, two years ago, was her enthusiasm for everything. And, I mean everything.
You ask her to sit, she sits with enthusiasm.
You ask her to "find the button" she finds the cross walk pole with enthusiasm.
You ask her to "bring it" she brings whatever she has in her mouth, whether she is supposed to have it or not, with enthusiasm.
She even "waits" with enthusiasm. Now, that is talented.
Her latest thing she does with enthusiasm is her workout on the treadmill.
Before getting on I have her sit and wait while I get the treadmill going. As usual, she waits with enthusiasm. Once the treadmill is going I say "Nala, on" and she springs up and trots proudly on to the moving belt. (I gently hold her collar for safety). After about a minute at the slower "warm-up" pace, she tries to start trotting. It's her signal to me that she is certainly not going fast enough.
Once she gives me this signal, I slowly increase the speed a bit and she trots along...you guessed it, enthusiastically; tail wagging, head bobbing up and down.
However, her enthusiasm does not stop there.
After another few minutes, she starts trotting faster again; another signal for me to crank up the speed.
The first time I had no idea what she was doing, but after I tried increasing the speed and she seemed satisfied with this arrangement, I've let her dictate the speed of her own workouts. The first time she did it I nearly fell over laughing. It was like she was saying,
"hey lady! I'm an athlete here. Let's go!"
Her enthusiasm for life, including her treadmill workouts, is infectious and I can't think of any other partner I'd like to have for the past two years; and hopefully many, many more.
Here's to Nala and her beautiful enthusiasm for life.