A visit to the dog park

Chris and I took Mal to the dog park today and had an awesome day. I was a little nervous as his breed has a reputation of not getting along with other dogs, but he was fantastic, even earning praise of "perfectly behaved" by a very kind woman with two Jack Russell's.

One dog was aggressive to him but he either ignored the other dog or gave it a puzzled look when it nipped him in the shoulder. Another dog was in an amorous mood (amorous with all the other dogs, even a huge mastiff) and Mal looked confused but didn't do anything mean. Even with the Jack Russells, which I was afraid might trigger his prey drive, he was fine, racing up to them then skidding to a stop and looking at them.

A little girl who was six (with a new tooth and one about to fall out) had a marvelous time playing with him.

We stayed for about an hour and a half then I got kind of worried about heat exhaustion and we took him down to look at the river for a bit. Here Chris found the most gorgeous garter snake; about three feet long and emerald on top and pale spring green on the bottom. We also saw two fawns, nearly as big as full grown does but still with the spots. Then we came home and there was a bunny in our front yard.

Also Chris saw a jellyfish, which is less exciting and not so cute.

I don't know if I blogged about the shooting at the dog park near our old house in Severn, but it was all the talk of the dog park in Annapolis. Apparently the owner who shot Bear Bear had his dog on the leash in the park, which you aren't supposed to do as it makes the leashed dog feel cornered, which can make it more aggressive. You're supposed to take it off the lead in what I call the air lock then let it sniff butts and sort things out on its own. This guy didn't follow that rule and shot and killed the dog he says was aggressive to his dog. It's sad and frightening.

Speaking of sad, Calliope, my three year old rat, passed away this week. She was my last remaining girl and I'm bereft without them. For the last five or so years I've had a rat on my shoulder for quite a lot of my writing and I've given them all my tomatoes (I don't know commercial tomatoes) and it's just weird not having them anymore.

Cameron has decided to stay on in Alaska for a bit. He's not sure how long. Maybe one semester. I imagine he'll get tired of the winter and the lack of light pretty quickly. He's been there plenty of times so it's not exactly new and exciting and the part where he lives is just a big suburb so we'll see.

Chris goes back to NYC for more school soon and then it will be me, Cullen, Brandon, the two cats and the dog. I think I'm going to have to teach the dog to weed the garden...