Took Baxter and Bennie to the dog park today. It is the first time in a couple of months so figured they deserved to go rampaging around the corrals.
I didn’t take them into the big dog area right away though Baxter, of course, wanted to go. There are two reasons for this – Baxter doesn’t mind voice commands so he has to stay on a leash and Bennie is terrified of bigger dogs. So we stayed in a paddock all to ourselves – running around and playing “fetch.” Of course, fetch implies that the dogs go get the balls and bring them back to me…like that has ever happened yet…so I’m actually the one throwing and fetching. Both dogs go and pounce on the ball, then run off.
Baxter, naturally, found the only mud puddle and promptly laid down in it before I could get there to shoo him away. He loves the mud. In Florida there were clear water fountains for the dogs to go in and he loved doing that but here there are only mud puddles and dirty ponds. I did find the dog pond at the park though so my niece was right about them having one.
After about an hour, I decided to take the dogs into the bigger area for a quick walk around the track. Actually, a Germain Shephard wanted in our paddock area but is so vicious that he can’t be around little dogs. I told the owner we’d move to the bigger paddock so her dog would be by itself which made her happy. She was about ready to take it back home without it getting any exercise because there were people in all the paddocks and I didn’t want her to have to do that, that dog obviously needed to work off some of it’s aggression.
The bigger dogs didn’t understand Baxter and Bennie having to stay on their leashes. A couple times dogs ran up or around them not realizing the leash was there and clotheslined themselves. I told the other owners why mine had to stay on the leashes so they had their dogs stay farther away which was fine with Bennie.
A nice breeze came up after we had been there awhile so Baxter was able to dry off before getting into the car. Yes, the car is still dirty and I am going to have to go out to clean the seat with my little green machine – but such is life. Next time I will remember to grab a few towels to lay across the seats like I use to in Florida.
Both dogs had baths when they got home – than I took them for another walk so they could air dry. Right now they are sacked out together on the couch – I imagine they are totally exhausted. Baxter was racing the bigger dogs back and forth along the shared fence line when we were in our own paddock so I know he is tired. He may be small but he could keep up with even the biggest running dog – he is a fast little guy.
