Pet Tricks

It was a "Dog Disneyland" weekend. Dog Disneyland is the off leash area where we take the girls for extra special long walks. They can go off leash because they would take off at the first scent but the other dogs come over to them so they still get socialized. This weekend was Indian Summer and the park was wall to wall dogs and people. The girls loved it. Two laps on Saturday and a quick lap on Sunday. It must have been Take a Beagle to the park day on Saturday because it looked like a beagle family reunion. There were Tricolors galore and even a black and white that could have been Dixie's brother. But he didn't have her speckled ears.

So we walked the girls in the sun for what may have been the last good weekend of the fall. The forecast is for colder weather so we took advantage of the sun and the colors.

Belle was her usual self. Happy go lucky. Just having fun. She had a good day but then that's Belle she always has good days.

Dixie had a bad day. She found a treasure. Well a treasure for her anyway. To you and I it was a stick. But to her it was a treasure. Still green about a half an inch thick and a foot long, just right for chewing. Laying there by the side of the path and no other dog had picked it up. So by all the rules of the dog park it was hers. She picked it up and was walking down the path carrying the treasure. She made it nearly three quarters of the way around as the proud owner of a stick. Tail up a big grin and a treasure. You could see it made her happy.

Now I know you are not supposed to attribute human characteristics to animals but you could just see it made her happy. And what happened next proved it. Just as we were coming along the river a golden lab cam galumphing along. The brute up and took her treasure without so much as a by your leave. Well Dixie was crest fallen. Her ears dropped, tail went down and she looked like she might cry. She was visibly disappointed. Fortunately the Lab's master made the cad give her treasure back. I think she could see how it had affected Dixie too. It put the spring right back in step to get her treasure back. But its a sad tale, she started playing with a pair of beagles dropped the treasure and forgot to bring it with her.

She found another chunk of wood but it was big and ungainly and it didn't have the cachet of the original treasure so she dropped it. But she can't wait till we go to dog Disneyland where she can find a another treasure.

Hoping for another Indian Summer weekend

Randy