Wednesday, April 16, 2008
It’s Funny Now - Benny & the Greyhound
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
It’s Funny Now - Benny & the Greyhound
When the boys were about 6 months old we thought it would be a good idea to start taking them to the dog park to help socialize them. The closest dog park to us at the time was very nice, but it did not have a separate area for small and large dogs. This made me a tad nervous, but I thought it would be good for the boys to learn to play with big dogs as well.
After a couple trips at times which we thought would be off peak, we soon learned that the park was always fairly busy. We soon settled into the routine of going in the evenings a couple times a week. The boys quickly became known at the park and they did a great job playing with both big and small dogs.
We got to the park one evening as usual and the park was particularly crowded. The boys went into the fenced area and immediately started playing. The dogs were running and the boys were doing their best to keep up, when out of the blue, a greyhound sprints up to baby Benny and picks him up by the scruff of his neck and trots off of him.
I saw the whole thing and I frantically started to look for the greyhound’s owner. Luckily, the owner was on top of things and was already on her way to tell her dog to put down baby Benny, which the greyhound begrudgingly did. The owner pulled a muzzle out of her pocket and quickly put it on her dog. At that point she proceeded to tell me that her dog most likely thought that Benny was a rabbit and she angrily stomped off because she didn’t want to have to muzzle her dog.
I was fine up until the point she got mad at us for her having to muzzle her dog. It wasn’t like we were in the large dog section of the park, the park was for all dogs of all sizes. And Benny never even went up to her dog, so it wasn’t like he was enticing the greyhound. The greyhound sought him out.
I’m just so glad that the greyhound didn’t start to shake Benny when he picked him up. Lucky for us, he just picked him up and started to walk away with him.
When this first happened, I was more than a little irked. But, now when I look back on it I can’t stop laughing. I can picture it plain as day, little baby Benny hanging by the scruff of his neck getting toted around by a greyhound. That will teach him to be so cute!
11 Comments
That is always one of the things that freaks me out about the dog park. Ours is the same way, no separate area for big and small dogs. Lola is very alpha…so how she plays with other dogs depends on how she is approached. One particularly busy day a pit mix decided it wanted to play with her by standing over her and rolling her to the ground. She wanted nothing of it and proceeded to grab the pit by the jowls and hang there. She was probably only 7 or 8 pounds at the time but I still freaked. I was waiting for the owner to come and holler at me about my “vicious” dog. Of course my other half wanted to scoop Lola up and protect her and I had to school him on how this would just make her think she could be an instigator and how I don’t want her to become one of those small dogs who causes trouble. Another time a playful lab tried to pick her up by the head.
You handled that well! I would have been scared out of my wits. I live in rural North Carolina and strange dogs usually are abandoned and aggressive so I am always so careful where the dogs go… A dog park is unheard of here - we’re lucky if people don’t chain dogs to trees and leave them there all the time.
You did handle that quite well. I had a black pug, BoPeep, when I adopted a greyhound. BoPeep showed Mandy how to go up and down stairs and got her accustome to various sounds and articles in the home. They were best buds.
I occasionally go to a very large park that has a separate dog park as part of it. When I’m there, I always like to stand awhile and watch the dogs inside their park. Frequently I’ve seen a large dog do something that is way too aggressive for a little dog like mine. So I’ve never taken Bennie, and I never will. I wish there was a separate area for the little guys.
Hi Martha,
You can check the following link to see if there is a pug club in your area: http://pug.meetup.com/
We have one that meets once a month in a small park where its just pugs and a couple of Boston Terriers. They have a great time and all are the same size.
OH My Gosh!! It’s wonderful that you remained calm. I can’t imagine what I would have done.
Our dog park does have a separate area for small dogs. I have 4 little ones that I take there on weekends. One weekend we were there, a large mixed breed jumped the fence and went after my my 14 pound chiweenie; I don’t think he was going to hurt her, but she was fearful all the same and let out a cry. Before I could get to her, my other three dogs and 2 other small dogs went after the large dog. I couldn’t believe it. They were all barking at this poor dog and backing him into a corner. Of course, my pug was out front leading the pack, growling like some ferocious, crazed animal. The owner ran in to retrieve his dog, and the poor dog left with his head down and tail tucked. I felt so bad for him, I think the dog was curious or just wanted to play. Of course, as the guy is leaving with this large dog, my angel of a pug is following the dog out of the gate and making some weird gremlin/furbie noise that I’ve never heard come out of her before. All of the owners in the small dog area stood around stunned and looking at each other as if to say, ” I can’t believe this just happened.” Then this teenager holding a small dog says, “Sweet! Small dogs rule.” We all laughed proudly.
I have had something similar happen with a greyhound. Indy is very very small for a full grown pug (10lbs, chiuwaua size). There is this greyhound that had been coming to the park frequently, the poor thing was a rescue. Indy was racing around, chasing Gus, and this greyhound took off after Indy. But as soon as she caught up with her, the greyhound would stop and stand overtop of Indy as Indy would stop running right away. I think it freaked her out abit.
Both Gus and Indy are good with big or little dogs. A girl once brought her mastiff into the park with a ball, Gus went after the ball and the mastiff went after him. I got really mad at her for that. You don’t bring dog toys into a busy dog park like that, she left soon after.
But I have to say I have had more problems with kids and their puppies (labs, shepards etc…) and jumping all over my dogs and being a nuisance.
MIL’s red doberman used to try and pick Ruby up, because she wanted to take her to an open area in the room to play. Ruby likes to hide under the coffee table and peek in and out like a cuckoo clock when playing LOL. Well, if cuckoo clocks made chewbacca noises anyway.
Now she doesn’t pick her up, but “touches” her with an open mouth and drools all over her. She gets completely soaked and smells like dog spit. Ick!
You are much kinder than I would have been. I would have given her a tongue lashing and said hey - if the dog needs to be muzzled around other dogs - then muzzle it - and if you don’t I will muzzle YOU!
I used to bring my benee to the dog park but it was just too iffy and I’m a nervous nelly so we stopped going. Instead we would take long walks around the neighborhood and he would greet all the doormen and hang out (it was more his pace anyway LOL!)
Linda,
Thanks for the suggestion. I just looked, and there’s a group fairly close!! I think I’ll try to work out a time to join in their fun. I know Bennie would love it.
Martha
C.J. and Toeby play with my granddog Bruno, an English Mastiff. He’s 7 months old and weighs 120 pounds now. C.J. and Toeby think they are big dogs too and keep Bruno on his toes, running and chasing with their “big dog” barks going. It’s hilarious. We watch carefully so no one gets too out of line or hurt. The little guys can definitely hold their own!