Adventures at the Dog Park...

Being the good mommy that I am, I decided to take Sophie to the dog park yesterday. Other than Ella (Bullfrog's big yellow Lab), Sophie doesn't have the opportunity for much interaction with other dogs--especially dogs her size. So, off we went. Bullfrog also went along to take Ella to the big dog pen.

We get to the dog park and Sophie immediately heads for the big dog area. She is so used to being around a bigger dog, I think she believes she is a LOT bigger than she really is. However, she quickly retreated when she was surrounded by four or five VERY large dogs. The dogs were harmless--just checking out the small fry in town--but Sophie wasn't impressed. So we left Ella and Bullfrog and headed to the small pup section. There were seven or eight little dogs running around, fetching balls, playing with one another. I was like, fantastic, Sophie can finally socialize with dogs her size. When I put her down, she eyed the other dogs suspiciously. Then she took off running! I was so proud that she was jumping right in.

That is, until she arrived at her destination. Sophie barrelled straight for the closest person's feet, flipped over on her back, and wiggled adorably until the man reached down to pet her tummy. He laughed nicely and gave her a few scratches. And then Sophie was off again. Much to my dismay, she simply ran to the next person and did the exact same thing. There were five other individuals in the park and she ran to each one methodically--even the old guy in the back minding his own business. She would literally push the other dogs out of the way to get the attention. No matter how much I called and fussed, she relished in the attention. Once she went to each person, she went back to the ones who seemed most interested in fawning over her.

To make matters worse, Sophie scrambled into the lap of one nice old lady and made herself right at home. Thankfully, she simply told me to keep a close eye on her because someone would steal her cuddly self and take her home. I calmly informed the lady that they would bring her back once they continued to see how spoiled she is!!!

Needless to say, our adventure at the dog park didn't go as planned. In the end, the only exercise Sophie did was running to get more love from the next unsuspecting stranger. I don't think she quite got the concept of socializing with her own kind. Maybe next time...

Ella, on the other hand, had a blast. She jumped right in and played with the other dogs full force for about 20 minutes. Then she lie down next to Bullfrog as if to say, "I'm exhausted." She's definitely out of shape.