It's hilarious to watch, and she looks like she's having so much fun. The joy on her face makes me happy. The weather here in Texas has been sort of crazy. It's been cold then warm then cold again, and we've had some fairly big rainstorms. When you have a house in the woods where you have to travel down a dirt road to get to it, rains can put a hold on your travel plans. If a 4 wheel drive vehicle isn't available, you either have to walk in or wait until the road dries up. Long story short, Lucille hasn't been able to run and play in the woods much lately.
I've felt kind of sorry for the pup since she's been cooped up in a small-ish yard in the city so I decided to take her to a local dog park to let her work off a little energy. I had never been to a dog park and I know Lucille hasn't so we both approached it with some trepidation. Simply getting from the parking lot to the play area took a while. There were thousands - millions of strange dog pee and poop residues for her to smell. Her nose was in scent overload! I noticed that she had her tail tucked under her so far, it was rubbing her tummy. I never thought about her being nervous but was she ever! I almost had to drag her inside the enclosure.
Once inside, I removed her leash and I assumed that she'd just take off and start playing but that wasn't the case at all. She cowered and hid behind me and generally tried her level best to make herself invisible.
The poor girl looked miserable. Between being assaulted with more scents than her nose could handle, being in a totally unfamiliar place and being around 50 dogs she didn't know, she was just lost. I decided to play it cool and simply follow her around to see what she would do and for a good 45 minutes all she did was sniff around. I got tired of standing so I found a park bench and sat down which seemed to please her. She could hide behind the bench and take everything in on her own time frame.
Eventually, Lucille came out of hiding and ventured into the middle of the field but it was funny - whenever another dog would run up to her and try to play she made a beeline for me. She picked out a dog to make friends with which just happened to be a GREAT DANE. She had to pick the biggest freakin' dog in the whole dog park! As the Dane looked down upon Lucille, she decided to raise a paw and put it on my pooch which almost flattened her. I bet that Great Dane weighed 100 pounds easily and Lucille weighs about 45 so there was quite a difference. The two dogs played briefly but I was concerned about Lucy getting pounded by the bigger dog, even if they were playing.
Our trip to the dog park lasted almost 2 hours and I have to admit that I can't wait to go again. I think Lucille will be more comfortable and I know that seeing all those dogs running, playing, barking and acting goofy will just make my heart sing. There is absolutely no way you can be in a funk when you go to a dog park. The pups are so joyous it radiates off of them. And you get to meet lots of nice people, too. It's perfect because everyone is happy. What a novel thought! Happy dogs, happy people, nice park...it's wonderful. Even if you don't have a dog of your own, borrow one or go to the dog park just because you can. I promise that you'll walk away feeling peaceful and happy.
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