Walking is good

AP here - Tonka has now been here for 18 months. When he was little he was a little ball of energy and now he is a 100+ lb ball of energy. I started walking Tonka twice a day from the day I got him and from about 10 months on we have consistatnly walked 4-5 miles a day. There was one day where we could only go a 1/2 a mile and that was due to icy condiditons and 2 weeks when he was having shoulder problems that we could not walk at all. I figure if we average it out to 3 miles a day for the past 18 months we have covered 1,620 miles. We are like the post office - neither rain, nor sleet blah, blah, blah.... I have an awesome pair of waterproof  shoes and a great pair of wind/rain pants and both long and short raincoats so we go out no matter what the weather. I am sure the neighbors think I am a bit crazy but if you own a dog you know that exercise is a key component of good behavior. When he was really little he would not go out in the rain so I would have to take a golf umbrella and hold it over him when we walked or when he went out in the yard to go potty. So maybe the neighbors are right to think I am nuts, but Tonka hates water and rain is water (I think he also doesnt understand something hitting him all over). As he has gotten older he is OK with just regular rain but if we get caught in a downpour he freaks out. So we walk no matter what and it's not just to wear him out but to get him out into different smells and sounds. I figure it must get boring at the house for the blind boy since it is the same old thing every day. So we walk- and over the past 18 months he has met so many people and other dogs and been in different situations and I think that has helped him stay a confident and happy boy. Most people dont know he is blind unless I tell them - or they watch him walk into something.