Doggie Pause

I need to start by saying,

I'm feeling a bit embarrassed by my behavior with Fergi and my effort to teach her to stay off the bed.

I really do love her and I care about her a lot.

I just get overly rambunctious and enthusiastic sometimes.

Especially when I'm doing something I love to do.

(I love to jump up on the bed, too.)

 

I don't mean to hurt her feelings. 

Not at all.

I hope she understands.

We really are here for each other.

We're learning all about life together, one day at at time.

And each day is a day of celebration.

We make sure we recognize at least one thing worth celebrating at the end of each day.

Recently we've had a lot of reasons to celebrate.

This weekend was the Annual Spring Fling for us wirey ones and our people.

We were invited to go to a place called Doggie Pause in the middle of the city.

It's an indoor/outdoor doggie daycare that was reserved just for our wirey enjoyment.

That was a first for me. Off-leash play. Group play, in general.

It started with a parking lot conversation and some brief introductions.

The sniffing sort of ones.

So far, so good.

In the arrival frenzy, everyone looked sort of the same.

I wasn't sure who I already knew and who I was meeting for the first time.

But once I saw PJ and she saw me, I began to know I was in a good place.

She was happy to see me. She's always happy to see me.

And guess what?

Even Fergi got to join in.

(See her back there behind the fencing? Against the back wall with a black spot?)

She had come along, because we didn't want her to have to stay at home alone, pacing and being worried.

We thought she'd probably need to stay in the car, someplace cool in the shade.

We even found a good place to park.

But once we got there, we saw the nice partitioned-off pens that were clean and right in the big playroom.

Mom brought Fergi's car pillow and sheet in and got a perfect spot ready for her. 

She was able to come in and watch me and the other dogs play.

(Even if she'd not recently had her surgery, all the other dogs would have threatened her.

She still gets scared around them and bolts right now.

This way she could watch and feel safe at the same time!)

Most of the time either Mom or Nina sat with Fergi

and I could go up and check on her whenever I wanted - which I did - often.

It was a good experience for her.

Dogs came up to sniff and lots of people were very kind to her.

She got a lot of gentle strokes and words of encouragement.

(We even think she felt a little braver by the time we left.)

All of this was new for me.

I spent a big chunk of time in the beginning walking around the perimeter.

I wanted to get my bearings.

At first the dogs I was most interested in were the ones painted on the walls.

I found a tennis ball, and played a good game of ball all by myself,

quietly entertaining myself in this new place.

It was fun.

Pretty soon I got comfortable and saw the door that led outside.

I ventured out.

There I paced the perimeter some more, just like inside.

(They said that's what I did at the first rescue place where I lived.

I ran the fence, barking and peering to see what was on the other side.)

Eventually I got more comfortable and explored the big yard.

Everyone sort of wandered around.

People and dogs. It was pretty mellow. And hot.

It was a casual sort of gathering.

Probably considerably quieter than many wirey play-days, 

but that was okay with me. 

It was a good first exposure.

There was some fun stuff to explore.

The wading pool looked pretty interesting, but I never got in.

I'm not a water sort of guy. At least not yet.

(Mom keeps telling me I'd love to swim, once I get the chance to try it in a real pool or lake.

I reserve judgement at this point.)

Honestly, right now, I'm still a people sort of dog.

I found a lot of humines that enjoyed giving me the attention and pats and love that I adore.

I enjoyed watching as much as anything.

And I wasn't the only one that liked to explore.

It was a good group.

A fun time for my first doggie play-day.

I have a feeling I'm going to see and enjoy more of these in my future. 

And back at home?

The mattress is going on the floor!