Audrey Picker proves daily that dogs really are a woman’s best friend.
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The Batemans Bay resident rescued Miss Molly five years ago, and the pair can be seen out and about most days.
“She is my life. She goes everywhere with me,” Audrey said. That wasn’t always the case: “She was a rescue dog – very timid and mistreated. She spent the first five weeks hiding under the lounge.”
Now Miss Molly regularly walks five kilometres each day – “In winter, when it’s cooler, she’ll walk up to ten” – but for Audrey, that’s not often enough; she has a plan for when her shih tzu tires.
“I like a really good walk, so I’ll put Miss Molly in the pram.”
Not surprisingly, this draws attention and Audrey admits Miss Molly has become something of a local celebrity: “Everywhere we go, people take her photo.”
Everywhere we go people take her photo ... Of course, I am the crazy dog-lady of Batemans Bay.
- Audrey Picker
Audrey attributes their fame partly to the pram but mostly because Miss Molly is “just gorgeous.”
“Of course, I am the crazy dog-lady of Batemans Bay.”
The 72-year-old said she chats companionably with Miss Molly as they walk – and pram – up to 20 kilometres each day.
“We might comment on a house or a garden or, you know, a certain car going past, and it helps keep me healthy,” she said.
In fact, even before Miss Molly came into her life, Audrey was very active; typically she would ride her bike 25 kilometres, followed by a five kilometre walk.
When her husband was alive, the couple lived and travelled all over Australia, and wherever they stopped, Audrey was off riding her bike.
“It was to explore and to keep fit; I was walking and swimming too,” she said. Sometimes Audrey’s husband would accompany her, riding his mobility scooter.
“He would set it at nine kilometres-per-hour,” she said.
“It was very brisk!”
Even without a dog for company Audrey said she would still walk every day, but she’s pleased to have Miss Molly along
“The first twelve months were fairly horrendous. She had never been on a lead, she had never been to the beach. Even now, she’ll still stop at certain noises,” Audrey said.
Literally and metaphorically: “She has come a long way.”