Playtime

(Ft. McDowell, AZ) Tomorrow is a driving day so we wanted to try to get everyone some good exercise today.

For Wazzu and Slugger that entailed a leisurely walk around the lake with some time spent sitting on the grass watching others walk.

Sparkie got to go out in a field near the RV park where she got to chase critters!

And the two little ones got to go to the off-leash park. This is a great park as it has three different areas. One is for large active dogs. This area is huge. Then there is another area for large passive dogs and another area for small dogs.

Today there were a lot of dogs in the small dog area. When we first arrived there were five Schnauzers. among other dogs. Boogie immediately went over to play with the schnauzers. All five chased Boogie at the same time. There was such a long stream of dogs that I couldn't get them all in the picture.




2iggie wasn't interested in the schnauzers - maybe because there were so many of them. But she had fun chasing balls by herself.




She's pretty good at bringing the ball back most of the time.

After a few minutes, 2iggie noticed another black dog. She decided this would be a great dog to play chase with as there was no way it could catch her. They played chase for a long time...although the other dog had to take a lot of short cuts to get anywhere close to 2iggie. It was some type of bassett mix.




After a lot of running by both dogs, a couple shaved Wheaten Terriers showed up. By then 2iggie had gained a lot of confidence and she decided to join in the fun too. This is what you call a Three Dog Bow.




Then of course the chase was on!





It was interesting how 2iggie was a bit leery about playing chase at the beginning. But after a while she gained a lot of confidence and participated in all the games while barking the entire time. We are finding that at home as well. She is feeling more confident all the time and is getting much more bold.



They had a great time running and playing for about 45 minutes. Since Boogie had been involved in chasing the entire time, he needed a breather.



This is the face of a tired but very happy dog.



Wouldn't you know. Every day we come here, Boogie and 2iggie drink out of the doggie fountain together for a long time before we leave the park. Today when I have the camera they weren't that thirsty since they'd been drinking from puddles during playtime.




Hopefully we have five happy dogs tonight.

Debbie
3/10/10