44 4 Me

As I may have mentioned, a few weeks back Zoe and I got to tromp through a local dog park in our village.  We went a few times, and as I recall, it was a great time.  There was one dog who got dirty, but other than that it was a blast.  That is until Mom registered us for the Lake County dog parks and we got to go to an even better place where we could run amok.  And when I say that I really mean run (fun) through muck!  My parents weren’t completely unprepared (dad more than mom) for the conditions at the Lake Forest Dog Park.   See, back in the day, according to Sammy, they used to go to this magical place with acres and acres of off leash fun – and it even had a pond!  I thought Sammy was smoking something, as he kept saying this is where he learned recall, and yet Zoe and I ended up at DOG TRAINING!

Back to the present, this place where Sammy and Banshee spent so much time (and developed some bad habits) and I just learned after how many years with these people (?) was not a fictional Xanadu, but is actually a place just down the road from us.  In fact, I think we may have passed it on the way to the aforementioned torture palace/training up the road.  This place is AWESOME!  It has a total of 44 acres of pure dog heaven where we can run and run and run and meet other dogs and other packs…some of which I may have tried to join – but that might be another story.  I think this place was made just for me…or the likes of me – no, come to think of it, it was made for me, The Tempest.  aka THE TEMPEST!

Unfortunately, given it is now officially spring in our parts, the park may have been a bit on the muddy side even though it was still a bit frozen over.  Dad (the foolish scribe) wore tennis shoes the first day, but thought he wizened up on his return trip when he wore hiking boots.  Tsk, tsk, tsk.   Before disparaging him too much, he (Mom) got the grand idea to buy “Wellies” from Amazon – maybe based on observations of regulars to the park.   The downside of all this fun romping through mud, water and grasses was that we were then lugged off to “The Spa” at Pet Peoples in our home town.  My previous experiences here have been great – not to the spa but to the store – since they have copious toys, snacks, and food!  However, this time we found out they also have dog bathing amenities….something I was not so keen about.  The amazing thing was we were not the only pups to be subjected to this “cleansing” ritual.  As it turns out the next three packs that came in were also going to be cleansed after a trip to the park – I know they had been there since I recognized their scents and said a big “hello again!”  Now, I am not so fond, it appears, of the dryer.  Not that I bit it too much…just sayin’.

Interestingly, we went back to the park the next weekend, and also to the Spa, but this time other dogs went back to the washing stations but we got treats and toys…and no bath – even though we also went to the park!  My point being this store may not be the Little Shop of Horrors that I was afraid it might be, but rather the den of treats I remember it being.  Toes crossed.  I hope my parent’s aren’t playing that game they do at the vet where “90% of the time good things happen.  So… don’t worry about that 10%.”  Ha!  Doesn’t work for me.

The Tempest

Freak off a Leash

Last weekend our cousin Snowy came for a visit – along with Auntie K and Uncle S.  We had a blast which included many walks around the neighborhood (our ‘Hood).  The coolest part of their arrival was that we didn’t have to spend all Friday in our crate since they arrived well before our parents on that afternoon.  Second best part was that they brought the portrait of Montana that AK painted:

So now she is next to Sam and Banshee!

But I digress.  The real point of my story was how Zoe almost ruined the whole weekend when she bolted away from the pack when she saw a squirrel after sliding down the slide at the park.  See, everyone was having a blast taking turns going down the slides for kids that they have at our local park.   We were planning a triple shimmer (they have a three panel slide) when Zoe took her last solo flight.  Somehow, in all our anticipation of the Big Triple someone (Dad?) did not get a firm hold of Zo-bug’s leash so when she saw the aforementioned squirrel, she made a charge for the furry little beast and in so doing, realized that she was essentially “off leash” – even though the leash was still attached to her collar there was no human at the other end to reel her in.  And off to the races she went!  And boy she is fast.   A number of cars stopped and asked about her/offered to help, as the rest of the pack was following her – I  (and Snowy) didn’t really care if she found a new family to live with but my parents and Aunt/Uncle seemed to think they had to coral her before she found a new home – or got injured.

In order to stop her from sprinting off they tried to employ some of the lessons we have been working on at doggy (human) training.   The upshot of this was my parents realized they needed to do a lot more work on the “come” command.  Zoe did stay relatively close and would do a fly by when they called out to her (at least sometimes) but she remained a good leash length away from them so as not to be captured.   Eventually, she wore down (and got distracted by a very pungent skunk odor) at which point Mom regained control of her (Zoe’s) leash.

So realizing that Zoe might be associating the “Come” command with “Capture” or no more fun, Mom suggested that we go to the local dog park and work on getting Zoe to return to them when she was off leash and reward her with a treat.   For this exercise they utilized hot dogs.  So before I go on I have a couple of quick asides. 1) Hot dogs are tasty things and I was glad to find out that they are not really made of dogs, 2) Local dog park?  How did I not know about this until now?  Come on people!!  Anyhow, we went there both days this weekend and had a bloody muddy mess of a good time.  On Day 1, Zoe didn’t set any recall records but Athena (my new best friend) and I were always right at Mom’s hot dog containing pocket as soon as she uttered the “come” command.  In fact, the two of us hardly left her side from that point on. 

Ms. ADHD (aka Zoe freak off leash) was randomly running around the lot.

On Day 2, we were both much more in tune with our parents and would immediately come from anywhere in the park and stop at Mom’s feet and await our reward.  Again, despite no Athena, we were having a blast playing fetch with yet another new friend.  He may have been a bit older than us but nowhere near the age of Sammy.  This particular trip to the park ended shortly after Zoe tackled our new friend in the mud.  It was TOTALLY a legal hit – the other dog had already touched the ball – but the other dog’s owner was not particularly excited by the additional dirt that had now encapsulated his pup.  To be fair to Zoe, his paws and underside were already filthy dirty but now his shoulder and back may have also been a bit muddy.  That Zoe!  To be clear, the dog left the park with a HUGE grin on his face.

After all of that, we still had to go to training today.   But that is another story.

The Tempest

This weekend also reminded Zoe and I to always keep our eyes open to the spectacle of the world we live in – it can be quite amazing and beautiful.

Tempi and Zoe