Benefits of the dog park

We took Heineken and Stella to the dog park for officially the first time. (We had gone there before, but Brian and I were too much of chickens to let them off their leashes). Stella was obnoxious from the minute we touched the leash at the house until we got her inside the fence. It must be that the excitement just boils out of her. It’s only about 15 minutes away from the house, but Stella whined the entire ride so it felt longer. Then when we got out of the car, she let out her typical high pitched whine/bark to announce to all the other dogs and people that she had arrived. But that dog park is magical. As soon as Stella was close enough to get a different scent she was distracted enough to stop the racket. Thank goodness.

I was in charge of keeping an eye on Heineken, and Brian was responsible for Stella. Heineken is quite boring to keep an eye on actually. I decided that she must be socially awkward or an introvert or something. She was more interested in the smells on the fence and trees than in meeting other dogs. She was concerned about the security of the park, because I saw her do her perimeter walk. This is where she goes right to fence and runs the edge. I think to make sure there’s no squirrels or other creatures that don’t belong. Eventually Heineken did make a friend. She found a dog that would chase her so she had fun running around like a maniac for a few laps. Then she got excited when a small dog showed up. Heineken has always preferred the little dogs.

Stella was far more entertaining to watch. She loved chasing the dogs around. It was almost like there were so many dogs she didn’t know what to do or really which one to go after first. Stella’s preferred play method (at least with Heineken) is to run straight at Heineken and plow into her. I think she’s comfortable doing this with Heineken only though because I didn’t see her doing that to her new friends. At one point, Stella saw Heineken and she took off presumably so that she could plow into her. At the last minute, a new dog ran by. Luckily for Heineken, this new dog distracted Stella from her original plan.

It was a little muddy at the park and there were some puddles. I was thankful that Heineken and Stella are somewhat prissy. They consciously avoid the puddles and the places where it was very muddy. We saw other dogs that would just go lay in the puddles. Heineken takes the relaxed method of walking around the mud, and Stella takes the Stella method of flying over the puddles. Stella found a nice German Shepherd to chase around the park. The German Shepherd was not bothered by the puddles and ran through a big muddy one. Stella was chasing him, so she jumped over the puddle, but she didn’t clear it! She ended up right in the middle of the puddle with an Oh Crap look on her face and a wet belly!

We only spent about a half hour there, but that was enough to completely wear the dogs out. They slept the rest of the day and they were still tired on Sunday. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so well behaved!

Stay tuned for the next post. We start doggie training with Stella tonight which I’m sure will result in stories.