Saturday, April 18, 2009

A Dog Day Afternoon

Once again we had a perfect weather weekend. I got my mowing chores done Thursday evening, went to the farmers' market with Miss Chef Saturday morning, and did my vacuuming and dishes after she left for work. I sat outside in the back yard for a while with Rosie, enjoying the neat-looking garden and wonderfully cool air.

But I had plans for her, I did. I was taking her to every dog's dream--an off-leash dog park! Charlotte has 4 or 5 of these wonderfully generous places. The one closest to us is in the William R. Davie park. It's about a 20-minute drive, but I figured it would be worth it to give Rosie a deliriously exhausting good time.

After all, every time we see another dog on our walks about the neighborhood, Rosie becomes fixated. Every bit of diligent training flies out of her head as she strains at the leash or tries to drag me backwards where all the fun is going on, Moooommmm....

Fine--let's go; I'll let you off the leash and you can sniff all the dog butt you like, for as long as you like.

Guess what? It was kind of a bust. A few pictures are all I need to show you:


See all the dogs and people back by the picnic table? Notice which way Rosie is pointing?



" C'mon, Mom, let's get going."


"I don't know how to read, but I know this is how we got in here."



"It's hot! Turn on the AC, and let's hit the road already!"

Seriously?? This is what she does?? There were dozens of dogs of all sizes, colors and personalities. Some wanted to sniff butts, some wanted to play, one really really wanted to practice his puppy-making skills, but little Miss Asocial wanted none of it. She was more interested in what the dogs left behind than in the dogs themselves.

Plus, she was being fussy about water. There were buckets, bowls and even a kiddie pool throughout the park, but she turned up her nose at all of them. I could understand the brown water, but c'mon--you're a dog! And you're wearing a double-thick black fur coat. I know you're thirsty. I finally dumped out a bowl of water and refilled it fresh for her; she suffered to drink from it only while I was crouched down in front of her. When we got back to the car, she proceeded to down an entire bowl and a half. From her own, personal bowl.

However, I did achieve one goal: as soon as she got settled down back home, she sacked out in the living room. At least she won't be bugging me for anything tonight!

On the other hand, I kinda feel like sacking out, too. I guess walking around a 5-acre park is some kind of activity all by itself. We'll try again soon, and maybe I'll bring Miss Priss her own private water supply. Don't be surprised if the other dogs turn up their noses at you then, missy.

9 comments:

  1. Ha, ha...I don't mean to laugh at your aggravation, but it's nice to know my dogs aren't the only ones. What is it with the water thing???? Arrrgghhh!

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  2. THAT is hilarious!!! I used to take my dogs to the dog park... Sassy hated it. She's a little dog and sometimes big dogs think she's a squeak toy or something. She literally climbed up my back and onto my shoulders one time! Our bigger dog (Ginger- she passed Dec 07) loved it and would be more "dog" at the park than she ever was at home.

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  3. I wish we had pretty off-leash parks like that. I thought y'all lived in the Greensboro area.

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  4. I never took Stickley, my greyhound, to the dog park, because he is freaked out by all non greyhound dogs. I don't think he knows what they are. Around other greyhounds (like he was at the track) he is totally calm. He is very afraid of our chickens, llamas, goats, sheep, and event he pigeons. So weird.

    Speaking of weird, yes, it was me who lusted after the carrot and beet sweatshirts in the photo of your market. I even did some googling to try to find them, but came up empty handed. Sorry to be intimidating with the paypal thing, but I am one of those crazy people who sees something they like and then must have it, even if they have to ask complete strangers for assistance in obtaining it. But really, you're not a complete stranger, because we are blogosphere buddies. :-) Let me know if you are willing to scope out the carrot/beet sweatshirt situation for me. I can send you a check if you prefer, and you can wait for it to clear before sending. I'm quite reasonable! If you prefer to email me, you can get me at patentgarden at gmail dot com.

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  5. How funny. Nope, she isn't the least bit spoiled. Looks like she still have fun exploring some, even if she was anti-social about the other dogs.

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  6. You just learned the first law of parenthood: give your kids what they want and they promptly don't want it anymore.

    Too funny Flar. Rosie totally spoofed you. Which, of course, makes for great blog writing.

    Thanks for the giggle.

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  7. Too funny! Sounds as though you have a little princess on your hands there!
    Thanks for visiting my blog, and enduring my rant - you are quite right, just too many idiots in one day!

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  8. Hey Flar...

    I tagged you on my blog today. Check it out:

    http://casahice.blogspot.com/2009/04/eight-things.html

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  9. Tyb's gotten too old for the rough and tumble dog parks, which is sad. He used to go insane as we pulled up to his old park by the lake.

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