Hmmm...

I guess I didn't post yesterday!  I don't recall... I do recall that the FP had to get a last minute trip to his sister's.  His mom is there and they got a lot of drama going on, so they pretty much made him go.  So, I guess I was helping him find a flight or something.

Anyway, today was a big day.

The first day that the FP left me with just the four legged friends overnight.

The first day the pup went to daycare.
So, being the first day, it was half price - a test run.  It's not cheap, but I think it may be a lifesaver, unless we get friends with dogs who want to take him when we can't be home all day with him.

I gotta say, it was nice to unload him for a while.  I was nervous.  Yesterday, we took him to the dog park.  It was earlier than usual and it was sunny and muggy and there were all different dogs and people.

There was one guy with scruffy looking dogs.  He had his backpack there on the bench next to him.  All the dogs kept sniffing the backpack.  Then Rudy noticed it.  And he was all trying to get at some food in a pouch, along with other dogs.  But, he started to bark and was getting aggressive.  So I had to pull him off by his collar and pull him away to calm him down.  One guy called, "Put him down, show him who's boss."  We just walked it off instead.  I wouldn't be told by some guy I didn't know what to do.

What was the guy doing bringing food into the park anyway?  You aren't supposed to bring food into the park for the exact reason that dogs may get aggressive.  I don't know if he was homeless or what, but he should have known better.  But then we felt like we should leave.

So, we went to walk around the park.  And then we found the dog swim, which was pretty cool  There was a little black dog who looked older, but she was the same size as Rudy.  Then there was a big pretty black Newfoundland.  They were chasing Rudy, and he kept hiding under our bench, which was scary with a big huge wet black furry dog coming bounding at us.  So, at least the day was somewhat redeemed, although when we were walking back to the car he was biting the leash.

So, you can see why I was a little nervous bringing him to the doggie daycare.  When the woman took him in, he kept jumping up at her, which was disheartening.  And then she put an ID band on him, and he whined when she did it.  At least he didn't bite her.

Anyway, needless to say, he probably had a ball.  Well, I know he did, probably literally and figuratively.  He was so hungry that he didn't want to eat during lunchtime.  That never happens!

So, hopefully it will go well tomorrow when I drop him off before work!

Puppy Playground

So, today was the big day.  The day we were all waiting for.  The day that Rudy was allowed inside a dog park.

And his daddy took him while I was at work.  It seems fitting somehow.  You know, man's best friend and all... And he did great.  At first there were about 10 dogs, and by the time that they left there were about 25 dogs.  And he wanted to meet every single person and dog in the park.  Such a social butterfly.  His best pal was this big old pitt bull named Princess.  She showed him the ropes.

He's so much like his daddy.  So unlike me!

It went so well, that we decided we would take him to the park tonight.  Of course, though, there were storm clouds looming, so we didn't know if it would be too stormy or not.  But we drove out to the park anyway to see if it was going to let up or not.  It was lightly raining when we got there.  And there were a few dogs out.

So we did get out after a few minutes.  As we got out, we passed a few dogs that were leaving, but there were still 2 dogs in the park.  One was four year old beagle german shepard mix - although she looked to have no german shepard in her.  The other was a big old lab rottweiler mix - about 130 pounds!  He was the boss, but he just laid there because he didn't need to assert anything.

After a bit, Lady got restless or something and she started barking at the big old chief.  He just laid there.  So then Rudy tried to play with her, but she got him upside down and was over him and he did not like that at all.  He is a little whiney guy, so he made it sound worse than it was.  At one point, the big old dog got up and intervened.  He told Lady to back off.  It worked for just a bit.  And then she started dominating Rudy.  She was a closet dominatrix, I guess.  And Rudy is an out in the open submissive - except for when it comes to us.  So this went on for a bit.  The owners were trying to apologize, but Lady really hadn't done anything inappropriate, but they were just barking a lot, so it sounded worse than it was, I think.

So, we took him to run around the park.  There are some obstacles, so we tried to get him to go over them or thru them.  There was a low ramp that he had no problem going across, and there was like a tire jump that he went in also.  It wasn't nearly as exciting as the dog park this morning, but maybe a more valuable lesson was learned on this visit?

I wish I could say that he hasn't jumped on us or bit us or barked since we've been back from the park.
Oh, how I wish I could say that.  But I will just hope for being able to say it one day.  Hope is good.