The other day my mom wanted to visit me but I was taking Donna out to the dog run.
And what does she do there, my mother wanted to know.
Oh, she runs around with the other dogs… you chase me… I chase you … like children.
There is a rather child-like quality about dogs that gets endearing, isn’t there?
This white husky looks bigger than Donna but she is only 7 mths old to Donna’s 4 years :P
The dog is an interesting creature. It can vary in so many different ways. It can be white, black and all sorts of other interesting colour combinations. It can be big and strong and it can also be tinier than a cat. Its existence depends on man. Man can breed it for work in harsh and cold environments. Man can transport it and say – you shall now live here in the tropics, no matter that you were bred to thrive in Arctic environments.
And yet, despite its displacement and breeding, put them in a dog run and they play like children. :)
It’s always interesting to see dogs interact at the dog run. Perhaps because there was only the two of them in the dog run, they were eager to play. Donna moves fast when she is in the mood so she was very much a blur in most of the shots.
The husky was frolicsome, but tire faster than Donna. She gave pretty high-pitch yelps during play. Donna was still raring to continue to play when the husky was ready to stop. We brought water for Donna and were glad to share it with the husky, who very obviously needed it.
A fair number of the photos showed Donna with her ears somewhat pinned back against her head. In some cases, ears that are pinned back could signal a dog that is in a stressful situation and the right thing to do may be to remove her from the cause of stress.
However, there are other signs that show she is having fun, such as her wagging tail and relaxed mouth. The other telling thing is that the play was fairly balanced. They took turns chasing each other around.
There was a lady with a white Labrador Retriever who stood observing the dogs outside the dog run. I couldn’t read other dogs well and didn’t know and still find it hard to see when she explained that the Labrador was tense and it’s hair was standing, which is why she was not sure if it was a good idea for her to bring the Labrador into the dog run. So we let the dogs sniff at the white lab with the fence between them. It was when we leashed our dogs that the white lab suddenly reacted and barked. Not sure why that happened but the lady quickly excused herself and removed her dog from the dog run.
We were lucky to meet the husky, that’s one more tick on the socialisation checklist I suppose :P
References
ARK
Good one….
weliveinaflat
Thank you :)
Roxy the Traveling Dog
Torrey loves to play with other dogs. There was a nice dog park in Jackson, but sadly nothing here. She has friends down the road though.
weliveinaflat
After a while, Torrey will have friends every where given you guys get around!! But it’s good they Torrey and Roxy have each other permanently too :) Donna has recently discovered that besides playing with other dogs… humping them is fun too = = !!!!
lensandpensbysally
Ah, meeting new friends and you get to watch like a proud mom.
weliveinaflat
Oh yes… until she tries to hump the other dog… someone pass me a paper bag please!! :P
weggieboy
A sweet story! Well done, Donna! And you have a new buddy at the dog park!
weliveinaflat
Oh yes, a fluffy white buddy!! :D
Kuruk
You got to play with m husky cousin! She is very beauwoooowoooootiful! Wooohoooo!
weliveinaflat
Haha, I wasn’t a good judge but the fluffy white hair is pretty :D
1st World Dog
Mum loves watching the play bows… That’s when she knows I’m really happy.
weliveinaflat
Play bows only come when the dog is relaxed to think about play huh? :) Me too. :)
Dawn
Good to see that the Labrador’s mom was making sure her dog was okay with the situation before just letting her loose in the park. Sounds like Donna did just fine too. Ears back is not always a sign of stress. Pierson also does it when he’s excited and in a playful mood. His tail is wagging and he has a big happy grin on his face. Then he lets out one of his cute howls to tell me he’s having fun and he wants to play some more.
weliveinaflat
:D Donna doesn’t really make much noise… maybe as she gets more comfortable she will vocalise more. Does Maya howl with Pierson? They can make a duet :P
Good luck for the midterms!!
Kyla
I’ve heard that you can put all the dogs in the world in one place with adequate food and water and come back in 50 years and find the original wolves that we had as ancestors. Can’t prove it by me-no reproduction here.
weliveinaflat
No reproduction here either! :P But that’s an interesting thought :)
FireBonnet
Wonderful musings about the nature of dogs! On our walks, we have found that when some dogs are off leash and others on, there seems to be more defensiveness and stress, as if being leashed makes them more vulnerable. On a walk, if I come across a dog on leash when mine is off, I always put a leash on him to even the playing field. Meghan from 2catsandacattledog.com
weliveinaflat
We are mostly on the leash and we do avoid dogs we see that are off leash on walks :) Have a great day :)
snowieners
So playful. I love when dogs respond so good to socializing . It is very fun to watch.
weliveinaflat
It is! :)
rubytheblacklabrador
They look comfortable with each other though!
weliveinaflat
Donna kept going after the husky even when the husky is tired already though… that’s not very nice :P
Linda Trunell
Too bad we are so far away from each other – Max would love to play with Donna at the dog park. We are lucky enough to have a great one 5 mins. from home. It used to be a ranch and has acres of woods and riding trails.
weliveinaflat
Pity. You are lucky. :) we don’t have dog parks. Only dog runs that are like fenced yards inside of a few public publics over here.
2browndawgs
Lots of fun! Too bad about the crabby lab.
weliveinaflat
Yah, but we were lucky to meet the husky… usually its just lonely old Donna sniffing by herself in the dog run….