Adding to the routine

Recently, we have been trying to work with Sadie regarding her social skills.

When we first took her to the dog park, I chickened out before we even stepped away from the car. She was already growling at a dog! I was in tears on the drive home. She is so sweet with me, why is she like that around others?

Well, luckily we decided to try again. First we took her to a really big dog park with a lake. I wouldn't let Kevin take her off the leash so she struggled and pulled and almost killed him. She was sweet, just frustrated I think.

When we got down to the lake, I decided there were few enough dogs around to risk letting her swim (she LOVES the water!). That dog swam around the fence and got out of the park! Luckily, Kevin got her back, but only so she could find another hole in the fence - and lead another dog out with her!

But she didn't attack any dogs, so I call it a victory.

The next week, we took the dogs to Liberty Memorial dog park near down town.

I was very nervous. There wasn't as many distractions (like the lake) and I was expecting to pull her away from a bloody fight.

She was awesome!

As soon as she was off the leash she just started running - everywhere. She was jumping over dogs, like hurdles.

She made quite a few people laugh, that's for sure. Her feet must have gotten hot because there was a bowl of water for the dogs and she just jumped into it with her front feet and started digging. She wasted all of the water for the dogs - oops. But it was hilarious.

We took her back another time and there was almost a fight with a rottweiler, but Kevin intervened and we left. Definitely the scary dog's fault, right?

Since Sadie has been doing so well at the dog park with Kevin and Chester, I decided to take her and Eddie by myself this afternoon.

That's right, I am a stay-at-home dog mom. I arrange play dates and take my dogs to the park. All-in-all, it's a pretty nice life. Not ruff at all.

Sadie did pretty well at the park today. There was a slightly tense moment with a Golden name Charlie, but I blame him.

I was able to park really close to the gate so she didn't get the chance to pull my arm out of the socket.

We'll definitely do this again soon. She needs the exercise and has so much fun!