Back to the Dog Park...Back to the Bathtub....

Oh Fluffy Friends near and far (hello to Scott in CA)...today I shed a few tears for our pal Chancey Shandy.

No, no, he's not found a furever home yet...but maybe soon.

Today we went back to the dog park in Waukesha. I have to tell you that I was a little hesitant when I pulled up and saw that there were a couple other cars there. Inside my head, or was that outside, I was hoping there were no dogs bigger than Mocha there.

There weren't.

If you've never been to Minooka, know that there are two sections to the park. One for the little doggies (or cats that bark) and one for the big doggies. I've never been to the little doggie area but always to the big doggie area.


When you arrive inside the gates, you can either go down the right or up & over & down to the left. The majority of the action happens at the lower left. But I thought it might be wiser to let everybody burn off a little energy before we headed over there. Down and around we went, staying on the trail of chopped wood so my already caked shoes wouldn't be even more impossibly caked. No such luck-the trail of mulch ran out. Slog, slog, squish, squish.


We came back up the hill and headed for the big area down below. I got a little apprehensive when he was half a block ahead of me and someone was coming up the hill.


Everybody met. Everybody sniffed. He even got down and cuddled with some other nice patron who was there, until his huge labrador showed up. Nope - time to go. No problem.


He was sooooo happy. He ran. He played. He...sniff...made...new friends. It made me so happy to see him sooo happy. This is what it's all about people. Take 'em to the dog park and let 'em go.


Of all the dogs he played with there was one black lab in particular he really loved.

They played A LOT.

He didn't even play with Te'a as much as he played with this other girl. Mocha and Te'a played for a little bit - the ol' race and chase. Mocha was happiest racing in the pond or trotting at my side. Te'a? Te'a found one of the hundred tennis balls and was dropping at everyone's feet saying, "THROWITTHROWITTHROWITTHROWIT, " or something like that.


There were labradoodles, golden-doodles, vislas, labradors, a hound dog, some other cute little girl who looked similar to our first foster boy, Jack (XXOO), a standard poodle and as we left, and our pal was safely on his leash so I could control the situation a little better, a young St. Bernard. He was still a puppy at 100+ lbs. Yikes.

Friends, our pal was so happy. I don't think I saw his tail stop wagging once. He was friendly towards every body and when it got to be a little intimidating, he gave me "the look" and we started off in another direction.

Now, future furever family, if you're reading this and oohing and aahing and thinking "dog park goooooood." Yes, dog park very good. But I want to caution by saying, slow down, be patient. It took a loooong time to get him to this point and I would hate to see it all go south in one trip. If you adopt this dog, please wait a couple weeks until you and he have had time to bond before you head to the dog park. Learn his body posture and let him get to know you as his new family, his pack.

You can then watch and understand when he's getting uncomfortable in a pack of dogs and gently call to him and lead him away. When he does what he is supposed to, praise him, praise him, praise him. He likes that. It builds his confidence and makes him happy and that will make you happy.