Picture a Day - Day 349

It's hard work being a puppy. There's all those growing pains when overnight you realize you gained another three inches and can't fit under the coffee table anymore, one of the best places you had to chew on your toys in peace.

Then there's the places you can reach now, the kitchen counters or the bed that your owners yell at you all the time to get off of. No fair, I can finally get up here and now you tell me not to.

Yeah, it's just no fun being a puppy sometimes. But then there are those days when it's just you, open land under a bright blue sky and a ball to chase.
I got to visit a park made exclusively for Doggies (as all parks really should be, after all what are you humans going to do with acres of open land? Build more concrete places dogs aren't allowed? That's just silly).

And while it was tons of fun being able to chase after my ball or run around smelling all the new sites I didn't realize one major drawback of the doggie park.

Other doggies.
I'm still a little girl and all these other dogs were so much bigger than me. So there I'd be calmly picking up my ball, and out of the corner of my eye I see a big black streak dart across the field heading towards me wanting to take my ball of course and knocking me over in the process.
Of course I did the only thing a little girl who grew up with rowdy brothers bigger than her could, flipped onto my back into super submissive pose as fast as possible and hoped they'd leave me alone.
But there were a few nice slow doggies there that I could sidle up next to and get a good sniff in without having to worry about them trying to jump all over me, or worse try to sniff my butt!
I thought the best technique to get other doggies to leave me alone would be if they get too close I'd just drop my ball to distract them then run back to hide by Mom and Dad.

Worked every time and no one ever took my ball. I'm sneaky like that.There were other fun things at the Doggie Park than just the ball.

I found the best stick I've ever seen! I just knew my Mom and Dad would try to take it from me so I ran around just outside their grasp with it clutched in my mouth smiling wide.
Apparently while I was busy with my stick some other Doggies decided to have their own Easter Egg hunt, or maybe they were fetching water from a well or collecting for a raffle.

I just know whatever they were up to, their owners were none too pleased. Plastic ice cream buckets are very expensive.
All in all I had a great day at the doggie park finally having the room I need to run my little legs off.
But really, could we possibly insist on not letting any other doggies to the doggie park? Or at least only let in the calm and cool ones who mind their own business and don't bother the little girl with her ball?

Hell really is other dogs.

(I had no idea we had gotten ourselves an Introverted Dog til she had this opportunity to meet so many new dogs and pretty much begged to be taken far away from them. She needs a lot more socialization which she should get over Thanksgiving with her rowdy family.)