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Another day, another milestone for Heather and Mr. K. Today, we visited Newton Dream Dog Park in Johns Creek, Georgia. Building on last weekend's success with their new friends Syd and Oz, Scottie Dad and I decided to allow the pups into a dog park (as opposed to simply gazing in from the outside) for the first time since I first brought Mr. K home from the shelter 2.5 years ago.
Immediately after walking in, Mr. K and Heather were greeted by at least a half dozen new friends in the small dog park, including a one-year-old Scottie (who was simply adorable!) and a Westie. Historically, Mr. K has never been good with his distant cousin Westies but today was the beginning of a new era for Mr. K. Wouldn't you know he never once let out a warning growl? He was so busy checking out the scene and chasing tennis balls that he seemed to forget he once had a 'thing' against small, white dogs. What he didn't forget, however, was how badly he wanted to hang with the big dogs. He spent a lot of our time there near the fence looking over to the big dog park and occasionally whining he wasn't able to partake in the big dog fun.
Surprisingly, it was Heather who underwhelmed today. She was let off-leash as soon as we got inside the park and was her usual sweet, innocent and happy self for most of the trip. She did let out two warning growls to a Jack Russell who kept hanging around (who also returned the favor right back at Heather!). Other than that, both my babies behaved beautifully and I cannot believe Mr. K did such a great job that Scottie Dad and I even allowed him off-leash. That's twice in one week! Keep up the good behavior, Mr. K - you're bound to make a lot more friends this way!
We dogs are unpredictable-you never know until you let it happen.
ReplyDeleteLovely to see them enjoy playing with the other dogs isn't it? Our leash free areas are for big and small and for the last couple of years Zena has refused to play near the big dogs.
ReplyDeleteHowever since Raffles has come into the house she has begun to run and play with them again, Interesting as he isn't going to the leash free park with her yet! it's as if he has given her confidence with the big dogs even though he is still a puppy.
Glad you enjoyed it! Looks like they added some things to the small dog area- we didn't really check it out. Maybe they can do the big dogs area next time. Are you going to the Scottish Games at Stone Mountain today? Never been but it is suppose to be fun.
ReplyDeleteHootmon says: "Wow! What fun!"
ReplyDeleteWhat good little Scots you both were. Looks like a lot of fun. We don't have "dog parks" here in the UK, or at least we've not found one yet!
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