Wow, I never wrote about the park. I’m so bad!

The park is a small enclosed area in a large park. It only has a 4′ fence, which worried Den at first since Zeeke would jump it if he wanted to, but I think there’s so much going on inside the park that he doesn’t even give a thought to the idea. There’s a mulch groundcover, lots of large trees for shade, two picnic tables, a firehydrant water tap, and a bunch of balls and rope toys laying around for the dogs. A little small, but otherwise quite nice.

No other dogs were there the first time we went. Zeeke spent the entire time sniffing every single thing he could, and peeing on every tree - or at least lifting his leg on them, there wasn’t a whole lot of action going on. He was off in his own little world. Zoe seemed to enjoy herself, her tail was up and she was running around with a grin on her face. She followed Zeeke around, followed us around, chased balls. I really think it was a good first impression on her. After we’d let them sniff around for about 20 minutes Den and I started walking slow laps of the perimeter, and Zeeke just followed us around. It was rather funny. Zeeke ran around with Den very briefly, but got tired quickly. When we left we just walked over to the gated area and both dogs happily followed us, got their leashes on, then dragged us to the truck. The ride back was uneventful, Zeeke even layed down almost the entire time!

That was monday; on tuesday while Den was at work I had to take both dogs to the vet for their bordatella vaccination. That was quick, though hectic - having two unhappy dogs at the vet is more than twice as much trouble as one unhappy dog at the vet. Zoe blew her anal glands while getting the vaccine, since they took her in the back to do it without me. Sigh.

So after that I figured the dogs needed something happy to do, so I took them back to the park. A couple of dogs were there this time. Zoe was okay with the other dogs, timid and submissive, but not freaking out. She didn’t like it when I stood around with the other people though, so she tended to follow Zeeke around sniffing trees. She’d come when I called her, though - but wouldn’t get within 5 feet or so of anyone else. I had hoped Zeeke would play more with the other dogs, but he still seemed to prefer being off in his own world, sniffing. Hopefully that will change.

Part way through that visit a lady arrived with her two daughters (young teens or pre-teens) and a small shih tzu. The little dog was a little unsure about the other dogs, and basically stayed right by or under the picnic table the entire time. Well after about 10 minutes I guess Zeeke decided he wanted to formally greet the dog and came over to do a sniff exchange. The little guy was obviously very put off by Zeeke’s size, and hid under the picnic table. Zeeke stuck his head under. The little dog ran out the other side, Zeeke ran around - and so on. Ended up with the little one running around the picnic table with Zeeke following trying to sniff - it was the same situation as with the cat, if he is allowed to just sniff another dog he couldn’t really care less after that, but with the dog playing hard-to-get… well, Zeeke takes it as a challenge. The little one ran out of patience and turned and snapped and growled at Zeeke. The owner looked freaked out, obviously worried that it was going to start a dog fight. But you know what, Zeeke paused, stared at the little dog, then walked off. I was so proud of him! He did try it again a little later, but again walked off when the little dog told him off. Yay. He has pretty good doggy manners…. other than the chasing. *sigh*

So then yesterday Den and I took the dogs to the park again. There were a bunch of dogs there, including some larger, playful dogs (one husky type, one boxer, and later a brittney spaniel joined in). Zeeke enjoyed chasing them, but the husky seemed to unnerve him a bit - the husky kept pawing at him trying to get him to play, and Zeeke wasn’t sure what to make of it and kept running off. I was a little surprized about that. Zoe on the other hand wasn’t happy with the playful dogs at all. They were all running around happy-like and Zoe got a little freaked out and started running… so they all joined in, thinking it was a fun game, and Zoe really panicked. Den said her mouth was open and he was afraid she was going to snap or something, but I really don’t think she was… I think she was just panting. In either case, it was over quickly and the other dogs went off elsewhere, and Zoe calmed down. She would stay at the edge of the commotion, staying out of the way and away from the people, but I think it’s good for her. Other than that brief moment she was unsure but okay - and it gives her a chance to observe and be around other people and dogs. I think she’ll get used to it. I know Oreo was just as freaked out the first time I took her to a dog park. (Only difference is that Oreo would indeed turn, snap and snarl if another dog got too close!)