Sunday Funday!

Maisie and I are lucky to live less than a block away from Puptown, one of the best dog parks in the city.  She's been a bit more timid there after the altercation a couple weeks ago, but seemed to get back in the swing of things today.  She started whimpering with excitement as soon as we got close to the entrance gate.

Sometimes she likes to have a little time to check out the scene by herself before joining in with the others.

After maybe ten minutes, Maisie began approaching and trying to play with groups of dogs.

Here she poses briefly with some other pup's drool on her face.

She also enjoys being part of the welcoming committee to greet newcomers.

It was tough to get a picture of Maisie running at full speed...she is FAST.  There were about five other dogs chasing after her at this point.

When she needs a break from being chased, she gives herself a time-out under a park bench.  In the winter, she likes to eat ice while she's under there.

The water fountain runs continuously for the dogs in the summer, but is off between October and April.  Today, a dog parent less forgetful than I am brought a jug of water to fill it up.  The dogs tend to gather around the bowl at times.

Every so often, Maisie would run up to me and kind of "check in."  She generally looks around for me periodically, just to make sure I'm still there.

For some reason, Maisie hates German Shepherds.  One trainer told me it might be because their ears are always upright, which could be interpreted as a threatening stance.  This is Otis, one of Maisie's canine enemies.  He was also at the park, so she spent some time barking at him.  Otis never stays very long because he is older and has hip dysplasia.  He seems like a very good dog.

Maisie's friend Bea was there today too and the two of them wrestled for a bit.  Bea is an adorable little pit bull...she's gotten so much bigger than when we first met her over the summer as just a tiny puppy!

So all in all, a good time was had today at Puptown.  Maisie seemed pretty happy to be there, and by the time we left we were both ready to go!

p.s.  just want to point out that any pics can be clicked on and viewed larger 

to see more detail should you so choose...but you knew that, right?  

The Three Stages of 4pm

1)  Hey, what's up?

 2)  Wait...

3)  Free!

Happy Friday, everyone!  :)

Working Class Dog

The most common question I am asked about Maisie coming to work with me (other than "how do you get any work done?") is "what does she do all day?"  I thought I'd illustrate a typical work day in the life of Maisie with a few pics (afternoon excursion with the dog walker and potential attempted attack on the UPS guy not included):

Hope everyone has as relaxing a day (in the office or not) as Maisie will!

Treat Dance!

I posted this on my Facebook page, but thought it was worth the double post.

Maisie comes to work with me three days a week.  Usually right around 4pm, she will approach my desk and give me a look.  A look that says "it's time for a treat, lady."

And what happens after the treat is given?  The Treat Dance!

Driving Miss Maisie

Nearly two weeks after the blizzard, my street looks like this:

I heard last week on the news that firefighters were digging out hydrants in case of emergency.  Guess they haven't made it to my block yet!

Some of the snow has melted since the weather was a bit warmer this weekend, leaving behind huge puddles of ice water.  It's difficult to find a place to cross the street, especially for a low to the ground pup like Maisie.  You may not be able to tell from this pic, but the water at the end of the driveway in front of my house is ankle-deep.

Here's what the parking lot at my office looked like this morning:

On days like today, I am extra glad to have a cover for the backseat of my car.  I received it as a birthday gift a couple years ago from friends who were sick of seeing the old sheet I was using to cover the seat previously.  This one is a hammock style, so not only does it keep wet or muddy Maisie paws from messing up the interior, it also prevents her from hitting the floor behind the front seats should I ever make a sudden stop.  

 

Plus it helps to keep her in the back (as opposed to climbing into the passenger seat while I'm driving).

When it gets dirty, I just throw it in the washing machine and air dry it.  The material is very sturdy, but Maisie still was able to chew through one of the velcro fasteners at some point.  I put a new piece of adhesive velcro on it and although it's not perfect, it works well enough...and had the bonus effect of making me feel oh-so-crafty!

Altercation

When you go to the dog park as often as Maisie and I do, you're bound to have a dog-on-dog altercation every once in a while.  Maisie tends to run away when other dogs get into it, but occasionally a dog sets his/her sights on Maisie.  Unfortunately, that happened this afternoon.  Right when we arrived, a pit/Rhodesian ridgeback mix acted a little aggressively towards Maisie.  Maisie picked up on it and tried to give her a wide berth for a bit. Eventually, it seemed the two had settled their differences and began playing together.

Suddenly things took a turn and the other dog started snapping at Maisie. Maisie retaliated and we had a fight on our hands.  The other dog's owner was able to grab her and they left immediately. His dog had a few cuts on her face, a worse outcome than my dog.
Maisie has a little cut near her right eye:

And a tiny scratch on her front right paw that you can really only see if you enlarge this:

Maisie seemed no worse for the wear...she is a tough little monkey.  I feel it's important to let her keep playing with other dogs and have a positive park experience after a negative incident, so today we stayed for a good 40 minutes post-altercation.  Within the first ten minutes, Maisie appeared to have forgotten all about it.  She acted as she always does...trying to get other dogs to chase her, running and wrestling and rolling in the snow.

The rest of our visit was uneventful, except when I caught her eating poop that someone had failed to pick up.  It's the most disgusting habit I can imagine and I rarely catch her in the act, but I don't know how to stop it.  Just writing this makes me queasy, especially because she licked me on the lips as I bent down to take off her leash when we got home. *blech*

Now Maisie is resting and as usual, wishing I'd get that damn camera out of her face...

Frog Dog

One of the cutest poses Maisie strikes is the "frog."

I'm not sure when she first started doing this, but my dog walker trained her to do it on command.  Now if I say "frog," she will shoot her back legs out behind her, especially if I say it while there's a treat in my hand.  But most of the time, she just does it by herself.

When she is hot, it makes sense to me that she'd stretch out like that to have as much skin exposed to the cool floor as possible.  It's not limited to indoors though.  I've seen her do it at the dog park, and she also enjoys froggin' it out on the dog cot I bought for her last summer.  I have a big deck and entertain out there a lot in warmer weather...I wanted Maisie to have a "home base" on which to lounge while my friends and I are grilling or having cocktails.  The mesh keeps air circulating so she stays cooler, and she also gets less dirty than when she lays directly on the deck.

That position looks super awkward to me, but I guess it must be comfortable for her!