Relief

The perfect curative for listening to a story about terrible things that happen to dogs? Yeah, that’s right, 2 hours at the dog park. Nothing will restore your balance faster than watching happy dogs and happy owners.
Tonight was Frontline and Heartguard night, and I hate when they get the Frontline on the furniture so off we went to let them run until it dried.
Maddie has made a possible 180 in dog park behavior. Okay, not quite 180 degrees but let’s say, 165. A good deal of her old aggression is just gone. No longer does she have the urge to kick the ass of every dog that is bigger than her. She runs and plays with the other dogs. I am amazed. I had a moment of concern the other day, Chester was playing with a very large Akita that decided to chase him. Maddie was having none of that and took off slamming her chest into him and getting into his face. I moved fast but I’m a weeble and not prone to fast moving. Akitas aren’t really known for being submissive and backing down, also he probably had a good 50 pounds on Maddie. Miraculously, he backed down, he averted his eyes and stepped away.
Today, however, that same Akita was there only he decided that he also was going to protect Chester so we had a few tense moments over which dog got to chase away the other dogs. Chester, of course, was entirely oblivious to the whole thing, he’d found a sexy little Basenji to romp with. Eventually Maddie and the Akita figured something out and they stood down.
2 hours at the dog park in the sun and I feel 100% better than before. Go out, get a dog and go to the dog park daily, it’s incredible therapy.