One thing we got in the habit of doing more with the pugs when Solsey was around was taking all the pugs out with us when we ran errands. At first, it was hard for Benjamin, Henry & Luna to get used to the fact that the car ride was not going to end with them arriving at some spectacular place. When I would drive to a building, punch some buttons on a big machine and then return back home, the fawns would be extremely disappointed. But after some time, they started to figure out the difference between errands and trips to the dog park and other exciting places. So now they aren't as disheartened if they go out and don't actually get to get out of the car.
If we have to actually go in a store for a quick stop, the pugs only get to go if we both are going. That way one of us can wait in the car with them. This works great for the winter & spring months here in FL, but in the summer there is no way the pugs are going to be able to go on these quick little trips. Even with the A/C running in the car, it still gets very hot in the truck if you are just sitting in a parking lot.
So we are trying to make the most of our spring-time errands because I know summer will be here before we even know it.
And look at Baby Benny. All the car rides he has been going on has given him a bit of confidence and he will now stick his head out the window a bit when we are parked. I think he managed to stick a whole inch of his head out the window on this trip.
The pugs were all loaded up in the car and we were on our way to a park, when we decided to make an impromptu visit to the dog beach. The pugs hadn't been to the beach in months so we thought they would like it for a change. The only problem was that it wasn't an ideal beach day. It was cloudy, windy and cold. But we weren't going to let a little thing like the weather stop us. Plus, with the weather not being ideal we thought there was a good chance we would have the dog beach to ourselves and it turns out we were right.
Everyone had a good time except Sol was a bit disappointed. The lovely folks that she coaxed into giving her a hamburger the last time she was there were not at their pavilion. As soon as we passed the spot, she went to look for them. She smelled every inch of the picnic area, but alas they were not there. With no hamburgers, Sol didn't really see the fun of the beach.
Benjamin on the way home from the dog park. Look at that dirty face! You can tell he had a good time.
I must say I really like having a dog park so close to the house again. It sure is a lot easier to make a quick trip to the dog park, rather than having to drive about 30 minutes to get there. We get to squeeze in a lot more visits this way. Yesterday, after we got home from some holiday shopping, we loaded up the pugs real quick and headed to the park before it got dark. They had a great time and Solsey was in the mix of everything. She absolutely loves the dog park. I think she has the most fun out of all the pugs.
Saturday we packed up the pugs and went to a new dog park that recently opened in our neighborhood. Luna actually went to the new dog park a week earlier to scope it out and see if it looked like fun before we took the whole crew. Based on Luna's report, we decided it would be fun for all the pugs.
Our mission on Saturday morning was to tire out the pugs, and that includes Solsey, because we knew we had a full day of decorating ahead of us.
We have actually had some trouble lately keeping Solsey from getting bored. She loves her walks, but she physically can't walk far enough to tire out her mind. So we thought a trip to the dog park might provide more of a mental adventure and not tire her out physically as much, as we figured she could find a nice spot to sit and watch the other dogs.
We were actually a little nervous to take Solsey to the park. We weren't sure if she was going to like being there with all the young, playful dogs or exactly how she would react. But we figured, if she didn't like it one of us would take her for a little walk around the dog park and then we could go home. We thought it surely wouldn't hurt to try it once.
When we arrived, the three fawns charged full steam ahead to the dog park entrance, and I stayed behind with Solsey who was taking in all the smells in the parking lot. The girl smells EVERYTHING! A few minutes later we made it to the dog park gate, where we could see the fawns making friends with the other small dogs. I took Sol off her leash & then opened the gate to the small dog area. She trotted in and a few dogs came over to greet her. She greeted them back and then stood there for a second surveying the park with her nose in the air, sniff, sniff, sniffing.
It didn't take her long to spot a bench with two people sitting on it. She made her way over to the bench and was promptly pet by the man on the end. He pet her for a few minutes and when he stopped she moved on down to the woman on the other end of the bench. She got a few more minutes of petting before she ventured out into the park to smell around.
Dogs would come up to her and she would smell them and then she would move on. She didn't seem to mind the dogs running around at all, but you could tell she wasn't there to see the dogs, she was there to see the people.
It wasn't long before she had a woman on the big dog side of the park petting her through the fence. Her experience consisted of smelling around for a bit and then bumping into someone to pet her. Lucky for Sol, dogs continued to arrive and most of them came with two owners. As each new person came to the park, Sol walked over and made sure she got pet.
She made so many friends that day and was so happy to be out doing two of her favorite things, smelling around and getting pet.
I have always known that Sol is pretty unflappable. I have yet to see her in a situation where she gets nervous or anxious, she always has such a calm about her. But, even I thought that the action of the dog park might be too much for her to handle. But she proved, once again, that she can handle pretty much anything. She got everything out of her dog park trip that she wanted. Was she the slowest dog there? By far, but none of that stopped her from enjoying all of her favorite things.
I was so busy watching Sol like a hawk to make sure none of the other dogs got too rough with her that I didn't get many pictures at all. I did get a short little video, and I mean short, of her sauntering around though.
The temps have finally dropped out of the 90's this week and the pugs have been enjoying the low 80's, high 70's weather. However, no one enjoys this kind of weather more than Henry. He pretty much has become a permanent fixture on the lounge chair.
This is the view from behind Solsey's wheels which I must confess she doesn't like nearly as much as I had hoped. Sure, she'll take the ride, but if given the choice between the pouch and the stroller she would choose the pouch every time. Sigh.
