Dog Park test

Pearly's Big Day

Pearly is a lot like a human toddler. She gets into everything and wants something to be happening all the time, even if she has to make that happen. She pushes up against Woodson initiating play constantly. All three dogs will play, and when mine stop, that's when Pearly gets into other stuff. Yesterday she dragged the bathroom rug into the hall. She chewed up a bandana that said "Rescued by Love".

I needed to drain this restlessness out of her, but wasn't sure if she could go to the dog park, yet, with her spay being only a week ago. Her stitches are fine, she's licking, but no redness and she hasn't pulled any out. I was watching the Packers' game, getting up to check on her every so often, or when they were in the same room with me, I'm constantly saying, "stop it', 'enough', etc. Finally, it's almost halftime and the Packers have lost their back-up QB, and the back-up to the back-up just threw an interception in the end-zone. A college friend posted on his facebook page: Imagine coming to a Packers' game and being asked to play quarterback! I literally laughed out loud, jumped up and shouted "let's go!"

The dog park is probably less than a mile from my house. I layered up, t-shirt, Pullover and jacket, grabbed a hat and gloves, loaded the dogs, Pearly is almost jumping into the Jeep on her own, and actually did jump in for the trip home. I love that my dogs teach the fosters how to do everyday stuff. 

As I usually do with a new foster, I kept Pearly on the leash while Brett and Woodson took off into the park. Our dog park is wide open, completely fenced and I can see the entire area if I stand in the right place. I let Pearly off her leash after giving her a minute to access the area and she took off running. She was polite to the other dogs there and, of course, wanted to play. She dealt with Brett's obnoxious bossy roughness that I find annoying. Brett is an Aussie/Catahoula mix and he grabs while herding, and has no problem just plowing into another dog. Some dogs will turn around and start fighting with him, which, then, Brett fights back. He does better if I stand away from any groups of people. 

I've maybe said it before, several times, but I love watching the dogs at the dog park. Pearly was no exception. She clearly enjoyed herself. Woodson is always the first one to let me know he's done and ready to go home. After about a half hour of chasing and playing and once he does his perimeter check, he comes up to me and wants to jump up on me, then just kind of hangs around me, wandering off but coming back. Brett always goes off and comes back constantly. He'll go with Woodson on his perimeter check but always comes back before Woodson does. On Sunday, both Woodson and Brett were ready to go, but Pearly was still off doing her own thing, with no sign of slowing down. I was able to brush her out earlier as she's still shedding her undercoat. She finally came up to me and I said, okay, time to go. I was pretty cold after 1.5 hours. 

We got home and I thoroughly enjoyed the next seven hours of passed out dogs!