Dog Parks - The Temptation

So now that Zenzi has had her final round of puppy shots, we went to the dog park for the first time together today.

I will begin by saying that she was a superstar.  She fetched her bumper obediently and happily, always brought right to my feet and/or hand, and waited relatively patiently for me to throw it again.  She even sat first.  She didn't mind any of the commotion, watched interestedly as a parti poodle fetched nearby, and was totally cool about everything.

The other dogs at the park, however, were either fine and minded their own business, or totally rude.  One young GSD mix came over and chased Zenzi around while she was fetching.  She didn't mind -- just ignored him, because don't you know, it's all about the game?  But he began to get frustrated with her playing hard to get.  I had to push him away several times before his owners, sitting on a bench not too far away, FINALLY got up and got their dog.

Then, at the other end of the park, a large GSD mix and a very large pit bull got into a gruesome fight.  While the pit bull's owners (who were NOT at fault) were cleaning the dog's wounds, the idiot GSD mix's owners came over to inquire about the pit bull's condition.  They brought the dog with them, and attempted to let the dogs meet again.  Of course, the GSD mix went off AGAIN, and the owners were told to leave the park by a friend of the pit bull's owners.  They refused, so the pit bull left just as Zenzi and I were calling it a day before it got too ugly.

I really think dog parks are an excellent idea, but the ones here are just nasty.  Every time I go, the park is pretty crowded, and the owners are clueless about their socially rude or even aggressive dogs.  It's such a temptation, because the principle is so great.  However, we will NOT be revisiting that park.  This is terribly sad, because it's literally five minutes up the road from where we live.  We'll have to drive the 20 minutes to the Laguna Beach Dog Park.  We've had much more success there during off-times.  Unfortunately, you have to pay for parking there.

So our first trip to the dog park was a bust for the principles of socializing a dog with other dogs, but a win for practicing fetch in a new, highly distracting environment.

Amazing Dolce Day

Major success #1

Dolce and JoJo went to the Laguna Beach Dog Park this morning.  It's been a long time since we've gone to the park, and we've pretty much decided to avoid our local one.  I was very excited to see what sort of progress we've made in this kind of environment, given all our successes on walks.  I'm sorry to say I was unable to snap video or pictures. I was too attentive to Dolce.

Luckily, as I was hoping, the small dog portion of the park was vacant.  The park is essentially one large grassy area with a steep hill (it's in a valley between mountains), and the small dog park is just a small, fenced off portion of it.  The fence is chain-link, so Dolce could soak up all the commotion without having to be part of it.  It only took him 15 minutes of CU exercises to be comfortable.  I was floored.  I didn't even know if we'd make it into the big park today.

I let JoJo into the park.  I am so lucky to have such a wonderfully social, rock solid dog.  Meanwhile, I just held Dolce in my arms.  I let him soak up being in the park from the safety of Mama's height.  It worked like a charm.  I walked slowly, and he just observed from my arms nice and calmly.  When we got to a part of the park that was pretty empty, I let him down.  He ran off to sniff and pee and poop.  Eventually, we were approached by a friendly lab.  Dolce was a little snarky at first, but quickly warmed up and greeted with rear end sniffs.  This continued for the next half-hour or so, and his snarks became less and less.

I can honestly say that before we left, Dolce seemed comfortable and happy among all those dogs.  There were probably at least 2 dozen dogs there, of all shapes and sizes.  He made friends with a mini Aussie and a mutt his size -- both males!

Major success #2

After we got home from the park and I ate lunch, we headed out to our friend Pam's for a playdate.  Dolce already knows Pam's dogs, Bella and Lily.  Today, though, we had the pleasure of meeting a guest, Oliver, an 8-month-old bichon frisé puppy.

To my delight and shock, Dolce was fine with Oliver instantly.  He never once barked or growled at Oliver, they had a very friendly rear-sniffing greeting, and that was that.  I've always had a suspicion from our encounters on walks that he's more comfortable with puppies -- I think this confirms it.

Here's a snippet from playing with Oliver:

I love seeing Dolce play like a dog.

And here's a little training Pam got in with her dogs + Dolce.

Order left to right:  Lily, Oliver, Bella, Dolce.

Dolce did three amazing things here.

1) He shared food nicely with other dogs who were also getting food.

2) He sat patiently for his turn and wasn't grabby.

3) He gave Pam his undivided focus among intense distractions!

We next got to play with Pam's jumps and practice our agility exercises.  Alas, my jumps are not here yet.  We also got to show off some of our tricks. Dolce is getting more comfortable performing on grass. :)

So that was our amazing day.  I'm so proud of him.  I can't wait for him to get his CGC!

Dog Beach Pic Spam ;-)

So, I crossed something off my bucket list yesterday.  Rick, Kibeth, JoJo and I went to the Huntington Beach Dog Beach and had a blast.

 Here we are, walking by the water!  Kibeth is a water dog.

 I think it's super cute how they're in step almost.

 You can see our footprints.

 Haha:  JoJo was afraid of those evil white waves!

 Greyhound footprints!

 Beautiful day.

 Happy pupz. 

 You cannot get that girl out of the water.

 This beach stretches on for miles in either direction.  It's wonderful.

 A good run!  We did go off-leash eventually, briefly.

Kibeth is flying!  JoJo is being a goof again. ;-)

Central Bark

We went do the dog park this afternoon!  Here's some cuteness...

 Me with JoJo & Kibeth

Rick kneeling with Kibeth & JoJo

The girls had a great time playing, smelling, exploring.  No zoomies today, either.  I was disappointed, so was Rick.

 JoJo playing with a shepherd mix.

 JoJo being greeted by a rottie puppy.

 I'm so impressed with this shot.  They're in-step!

Even better, I'm so proud of Kibeth.

Kibeth started out super withdrawn, shy, and uninterested.

Now she's a social butterfly, and appreciates JoJo's company.

 Oh the smells.  They were intoxicating!

 Proof of the social butterflyisms of Kibeth.

She approached this guy from a trot at least 30 feet away.

He really enjoyed treating her to some hip scritches.

I love my hounds.  I'm so proud of them.  The only issue today was when Kibeth put an obnoxious bull dog puppy in his place.  It looked and sounded scary, but she was a good Mom, and the little guy was uninjured, up and being nosey in other dogs' business.  It's also very nice to have someone to go with to the dog park.  Rick is an excellent photographer and travel buddy.  I love sharing these experiences with him, and I think he enjoys the outing, too.

I can't wait to really get into training again!  Perhaps we'll finally get some formal classes in starting in January.  Either way, it hit me that I can only expect another two years from Kibeth.  Where does the time go!?  Gotta take advantage of what we have left.

FYI, Kibeth has a corneal ulcer from a scratch she got on her left eye during our walk the other day.  I met our new California vet, Dr. Driscoll.  He's wonderful, the cost was reasonable, and overall, a very pleasant experience.  Only complaint was the receptionist girl... rather at the end of her capabilities.  Anyway, it'll be about $100 to have the zit thing on Kibeth's right side removed.  I'll probably end up doing it when I'm all set up violin-studio-wise out here.  Oh, and JoJo went along for the ride.  She was very vocal, kind of whiney.  She does that when she's unsure, I think.  Otherwise, she was very well-behaved.

Yay California!  You know you live in a dog-friendly state when a great dane walks into the apple store at a local mall. ;-)