a beautiful day

I took Keeley for a walk this morning at Lake Park again. This time it was just the two of us because his grandma was busy. We got an early start and the weather was just perfect. Since it was before 8am, it was still cool from the night before and it was breezy which helped keep the mosquitoes off. Since we've gotten so much rain, the mosquitoes are out like crazy. Keeley has been very itchy lately but I don't think it's allergies right now; it's mostly mosquito bites. Poor baby.
Our walk at the park was about 40 minutes but it seemed to me that Keeley wanted more. So we went down to Bradford Beach and did a second walk there for about 20 minutes. That's right, he got two walks for the price of one. What a lucky dog, huh?
On the drive home, I took little side streets and drove really slow. I unrolled Keeley's window enough so that he could fit his whole head out. He loved it.By the time we got home he was exhausted. He's been my sleepy little shadow all day. Whenever I move to a different room, he gets up and follows me and then curls into a ball and goes back to sleep. He's such a cutie pie.
Keeley is my first dog ever and unfortunately this makes him sort of like my guinea pig dog. I have to learn everything as I go along. I had to learn about dog food. I had to learn about vaccinations. I had to learn about grooming. I had to learn what neutered meant. (It's sort of funny now, see I didn't know that it meant they remove his balls. I thought it was more like a vasectomy, so I was really shocked when I picked up Keeley from the vet's office.)
Anyhow, so this may be a dumb question but just how rough are dog's paws supposed to be? You can't really tell from this photo, but Keeley's paws are really rough. He paws at my arms in the night if he wants me to pet him and I look more like I own a cat, than a dog based on all the scratches that I have now. Is this normal? (PS. I know I need to do his nails but it's not his nails that are scratching me, it's his paws.) Does anyone have any advice?
Anyhow, later on we went outside to do some practice for the Pawlimpics. If you don't know about this yet, you should go check out Lenny's blog. Here's Keeley practicing some yoga, or should I say doga? And below he's practicing his marking ability. He's got terrific aim! We'll keep on with the training.