Whoa - Two blog posts in two days?

Yeah Yeah I know I know.  First we have next to nothing for posts and now a daily dose of Grade Lodge Wisdom.
Our little Wynne Fiona is really coming along. She is the sweetest little girl and has really been seeking out mama time. We took the pack to the dog park today, maybe you saw us, we were the ones with the white streak on a rope, more on that in a moment.  She kind of stuck with us, mostly, but mostly ran around the dog park with everybody she saw. She's a good little girl and nobody minded her walking up to say hi.

However, about our new friend, Bubbles-Ali (alley), the English Setter/Springer Mix.

Yesterday, after we picked her up from the doggy daycare, we took her to the dog park. The only thing I knew what to expect is that she can jump fences. Oh, joy, another one of those.  So, we left the rope on her.

I had the kids with me and Connor was holding the leash. He had the rope and I said to go ahead and let it go. Before we knew it she was at the "watering hole" (those of you who are familiar with Nashotah Park, know how far that is from the gate). Within moments, she was at the corner. A few moments later, the other corner. She was running flat out with all she had. it was sheer beauty. As I stood there with my mouth hanging open, I watched Kiera run towards the woods to perhaps head Bubbles Ali (alley) off and grab her rope, I remembered that she could jump fences.

Oh s%!*!!!

She was still in high gear heading for the final turn. She "paws-ed" to look a the birds for only a moment and then she turned around and ran the other way. Thankfully, there was a woman walking with a huge yellow Lab who only wanted to play but retrieved my amazing girl for me.

She settled down on my kids laps one at a time last night but only after a lot of pacing around. She only ate a few kernels of dog food last night and nothing this morning.

After Sunday School, Scott, Kiera and I took the dogs back to the dog park. We turned everybody loose and she was off again but not nearly as fast as she was yesterday, but still, pretty darn fast. She was at those corners in no time and I was a little nervous that she would jump the fence.

No fence jumping for you little girl.

We brought them home without anything eventful happening. Somewhere this afternoon she was in high pace mode so I sent Connor to take her for a bike ride. He took her out and managed to come back, unscathed (pay attention this is important).

After dinner she was anxious again, so I decided to take Connor's bike and the dog for a ride. All was going well and she was running by my side and actually kind of pulling me along.  I'm an experienced "bike-wiper-outer" and I started to think that perhaps we were going a bit fast for safety's sake. Plus I didnt have a helmet on.

We slowed down a bit but we were still going faster than I should have been going in shorts with no helmet, so I applied the brake one more time.

I forgot that Connor's bike brakes are a little more sensitive than mine.

Going down.

I dropped the leashed and crashed my son's "good" bike in the middle of the street.

The dog took off and I after her. Oh, man, the bike. I screamed for someone to help me with the dog and ran back for the bike. I picked it up and rode cross county over hill and dale. I lost sight of the dog but saw somebody walking a black Lab at the bottom of the hill.

Hey! It's Connor!  (Ooh, how do I tell him about the bike? He probably guessed I wiped out when he saw my bloody knee and elbow. Gonna be real sore tomorrow. Ya Gotta love Ibuprofen)

We followed Bubbles-Ali (alley) to the swampy hummocky-hillocky marshy area at the end of my street. We were probably a football field from the busy highway.

I jumped off the bike, well, jumped is kind of a relative term and ran into the marsh. Bubbles-Ali (alley) was happily, joyfully cavorting from hummock to hillock and smiling from floppy ear to floppy ear!

On the one hand I felt kind of bad about calling her away from her fun because she was really enjoying herself. On the other hand, I havent lost a dog yet and after three and a half years I'd rather not start now.

I called her name and she came running at me a hundred miles an hour. I grabbed her leash and we hobbled out of the swamp.

I winced and cringed the block home where Scott cleaned me up and brought me some pain meds. Fifty minutes later I was back up and feeling better.  I'm going to be pretty sore tomorrow I'm afraid but that will just give me time to work on a better plan to exercise the dogs.

So, that being said, you need to know this. Ready? I'm gonna capitalize and bold it from now until the time she gets adopted so there is no confusion. BUBBLES IS NOT A DOG FOR THE FIRST TIMER OR THE LAZY PERSON. SHE IS VERY VERY HIGH ENERGY AND SHE WILL NEED AT LEAST TWO 45 MINUTE HEART POUNDING RUNS - EVERY DAY. SHE WILL NEED A FENCED YARD, THE BIGGER THE BETTER.

Any questions?

Ok, good. That being said, I will also say this. I have two of the sweetest little foster girls anyone could ever ask for. They are both wonderfully sweet and loving little girls. Each is about a year old - Wynne-Fiona is just under a year and Bubbles-Ali (alley) is probably just over a year, or not. Cuddly is a word I would use to describe both girls. 

Wynne-Fiona needs a daily walk or two and she's good but little Miss Bubbles-Ali (alley) is gonna need a lot more.

That's all for today. I'm going to set up a glass of water and some ibuprofen for later when this wears off. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need it.

I do have some pictures that I took at the dog park and I will get them posted tomorrow.


Thank you for thinking rescue. Thank you for reading.