January 2023

January 2, 2023

HAPPY NEW YEAR!         

January 3, 2023

Gracie started off the New Year with a couple of fun-with-frisbee times in Teegarden Park! It was, again, all about “the chase” for her!

Today, the 3rd day of the new year, was rainy. So, we resorted to playing “chase and retrieve” indoors on the condo stairs. Gracie will sometimes sit at the top of the steps and nudge a ball with her snout to propel it down the stairwell and then chase it. She tried to do this with her ugly Christmas sweater doggie bone, but she’s a bit unfamiliar with the concepts of shapes and the laws of physics. The ugly Christmas sweater doggie bone only fell one step.

January 5, 2023

I welcomed the few days of very warm winter weather this past week EXCEPT for the subsequent mud in the dog park from the thaw. Each afternoon, Gracie trampled through the muck, rolled in the grimy grass, and dug holes in the sludge. For four consecutive days, our dog park excursions were followed by paw-wiping at the front door at home and direct trips to the bathroom tub where I washed my grungy – turned – golden noodle as filth transferred to the shower walls and me. Then the bathroom got cleaned. Then I got cleaned. THEN I collapsed on the couch.

The picture below (with muddy paws already) was taken one day this week shortly after we arrived at Teegarden Park.

January 12, 2023

Last night Gracie frolicked, dined and dozed at Lucie’s Barkingham Palace while I traipsed into town for my umpteenth sleep study. (Even though I’ve been able to do some sleep studies at home, my apnea equipment seems to need frequent adjustments requiring me to be onsite in the sleep lab at Jefferson Hospital in center city.) I usually dread these trips because typically (and ironically) I’m awake a good part of the night even though it’s called a SLEEP study!

I do think Gracie got the better end of the deal

Gracie….

Me…

January 14, 2023

Gracie the golden noodle has been freshly groomed!!

January 16, 2023

DOG PARK HAIKU

With Gracie I script

An ode to misadventures –

The doggie park blues.

I throw for her but

So many tennis balls lost,

Never to be found.

She plops in the stream.

Gets wet, then rolls in the mud.

Next, she jumps on me.

She caught a disc toss.

Ran off with it. Another…

Frisbee gone missing!

She chases squirrels and

Sniffs dog butts. What now, I think

She just ate a bird.

January 18, 2023

DOG PARK HAIKU

Verse Addendum

She prances with glee.

Is it a stick in her mouth?

No, it’s a deer leg.

January 22, 2023

Gracie enjoyed a ride to and from New Jersey yesterday – especially with Tina in the back seat beside her!

It was a fun day with LOTS of good food (for the humans)!

January 25, 2023

Pictured below is Gracie with her friend, Piper, in Teegarden Park. Piper is a sweet mini labradoodle about the same size and age as Gracie. They are perfect playmates, spending heaps of delightful time romping and wrestling.

January 30, 2023

Unfortunately, I had a very unpleasant experience in Teegarden Dog Park today.

Gracie was enjoying time with other dogs in the park this afternoon while I bantered with the other dog owners. Then, a couple with a young daughter (maybe about 3 years old) exited the adjacent children’s playground and entered the dog park. Gracie spotted the family and darted off toward them. I called for her, but before I knew it, Gracie jumped up on the child and knocked her over.

Of course, I was immediately concerned about the child. But as I approached, I saw her get up and she seemed OK; she wasn’t upset. However, the father of the child was IRATE. He screamed at me to call my dog off – which I did immediately. The family started walking away, but Gracie was excited, and so rather than coming to me, she began following the couple and their child. In the meantime, the father kept screaming at me, repeatedly, to call off my dog. I did. I finally leashed Gracie and prepared to leave the park. Even then, the father continued to yell at me. I said nothing and began leading Gracie away.

Then, the father started yelling at me, even louder, “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE – YOU DIDN’T EVEN APOLOGIZE.” So, I did apologize to him – several times. But because he kept on screaming, he didn’t hear me. At that point, he shouted at me, “YOU OWE AN APOLOGY TO MY DAUGHTER. APOLOGIZE TO MY DAUGHTER RIGHT NOW.” Then, “YOU OWE AN APOLOGY TO MY DAUGHTER. IF YOU DON’T APOLOGIZE TO MY DAUGHTER, I’M CALLING ANIMAL CONTROL RIGHT NOW.” (The mother and daughter were now sitting nearby at a picnic table on a hill.) I said, “I did apologize, but you didn’t hear me. I’M SORRY THIS HAPPENED. [Interpretation: I’m sorry you are creating such an uproar.] “Do you want me to walk over WITH MY DOG and apologize to your daughter?”  [Interpretation: Do you really want my dog near your child after you’ve created such a hullabaloo?] He snarled, “YOU BETTER APOLOGIZE TO MY DAUGHTER. OR I’M CALLING ANIMAL CONTROL.”

I turned from him, and with Gracie (leashed), I walked up the hill to mother and child. I looked directly at the child (who was calmly sitting on Mom’s lap) and gently told her I was sorry my dog jumped on her and asked if she was all right. She replied, “Yes.” And she smiled. I said I was glad she was OK. Then I walked away. Father continued yelling, but I ignored him.

In the meantime, while all this was taking place, the other dog owners were coming to my defense. As the father bellowed at me, they were shouting back to him that he was completely out-of-line, and he was being a complete jerk and that he was being a miserable example to his child.

I left the park silently with Gracie. But the incessant yelling back and forth between the father and the other dog owners continued as I departed.

This whole incident put a damper on my day. When Gracie knocked over that little girl, my first concern was for the child. Fortunately, the child was fine. But I certainly don’t want that to happen again. And while I definitely don’t approve of Gracie’s behavior (and I do need to give her more training), I don’t think Gracie did anything that a normal dog wouldn’t do inside of an off-leash dog park.

This father’s conduct was overblown, mean and unwarranted.