This morning I took Layla to the dog park. Sometimes I think the effort is a little futile because she rarely plays with the other dogs. Mostly she runs away from them, and she follows me around instead of going off on her own. I like to play hide and seek with her, pretend I’m walking towards the exit gate and then run back in the other direction. She’ll look around all confused, running up to groups of people to try and find me. It’s kinda nice to know she needs to be near me BUT isn’t very good for someday have brothers and sisters.
Today, she found a dog she really liked, a true oddity. His name was Sammy, a little reddish brown shepherd mix. Layla chased him and followed him around the park for an hour. I was thankful that she finally got along with another dog.
There is this saying that dogs are a reflection of their owners. In many ways, this is true of Layla and I. One, neither of us can sit still unless we’re sleeping. Second, we aren’t necessarily cuddlers, but we try our best at comforting when someone is upset. And then there is the park behavior. Layla is very wary of other dogs. She avoids big groups of dogs and tends to keep to herself on the outskirts. She finds friends few and far between, who have to be willing to deal with the fact she barks and snarls, but she’ll follow them anywhere once they get through that. Hmmm…need I say more?
Cute.
How funny, I went to a dog park on Sunday too! It really is interesting to observe dogs and their humans, isn’t it?