Wednesday, November 9, 2005

Act 2: They Play

Once we arrived at the dog park the boys were ready to romp.  Our first stop was the small dog area.  Once through the gate the boys quickly greeted their fellow dog park goers and then had fun playing in the sand and running around the small pond.

After spending some time in the small dog area, we went to the fenced trails section.  This is one of the boys’ favorite areas.  They love to run the trails hopping over fallen branches and running through the brush.  Here is an action shot of the boys.  Ben is leading the way and Henry is just getting ready to hop over a branch.

After walking the trails we headed back to the small dog area.  The boys were still full of energy and were running around the pond when a very young Boxer puppy arrived.  The Boxer was adorable, but it was very young and it still wasn’t quite sure how to interact with the smaller dogs.  As soon as the Boxer entered the small dog area it set its sites on an unsuspecting Papillon.  Within one minute of being in the park, the Boxer had pounced on the Papillon and the Pap was shrieking for help.  The Boxer not picking up on the Pap’s cues had to be pulled off of the small Papillon.

The Boxer’s owners tried to calm the boxer down and moved her away from the Papillon.  The Boxer then headed right for Henry.  I wasn’t too worried when the boxer headed our way.  The boys are fairly rough and tumble and I would consider Henry a very rough player.  He usually seeks out the biggest dog at the park and tries to play with him.

So as soon as the Boxer came over to the boys she jumps right on top of Henry.  Well Henry didn’t take to well to this and he wiggled his way out from underneath the Boxer and gave the Boxer a run for her money.  After a few brief seconds, we called Henry off to settle him down and to give the Boxer a chance to regroup.  Poor, Boxer, all she wanted to do was play, but she was just way too rough for the small dogs.

To help ease the tension, we headed back to the trails to give the Boxer some more time to get acquainted with the other dogs.  When we came back to the small dog area, the Boxer was no longer there.  Surprisingly, the boys still had some energy left and they decided to run around, up and down a huge sand pile.  Here they are perched at the top enjoying the view and acting like they own the place.