Something That We Do: A Day In The Park

Yesterday we took Belle back to the park. We were going to try socializing her again. Thankfully, it went much better. Here's a conversation I had with my mom. She called me while I was at the park:

Mom: "Hey, whatcha doin?"

Me: "Just at the park with Belle, you?"

Mom: "You brought her back to that park?!?!?!"

Me: "Yeah, but she's okay now."

Mom: "Is..... that.....chihuahua..... there?"

Me: "Yes, but he's not messing with Belle anymore."

Mom: "He's not???"

Me: "Nope, you know how dogs have ranking order with each other when they're in a pack? Well the queen of the park is here today and Porkchop knows that he falls below her in rank, and luckily the queen likes Belle a lot so when Porkchop sniffed Belle, the queen put him in her place and now Belle's not afraid of him."

Mom: (trying not to laugh) "And who's the queen of the park, Lindsey?"

Me: "Her name is Gloria."

Mom: long pause. "Okay." (pause) "Are you on drugs??"

When mom (jokingly) asked if I was on drugs, I realized how insane my story had sounded. But, in all seriousness, the queen (Gloria) really did protect Belle! Gloria was a mix of a australian shepherd and corgie, so she looked like a small sheep herder. And she was a herding dog, which put her at top rank in the park. With her one brown and one blue eye, she could direct any dog to go anywhere she wanted him or her to, and he or she would do it without question. She could even herd the big dogs that were on the other side of the fence. She was that good.

So thankfully, Gloria liked Belle and Belle liked Gloria. And since neither particularly cared for Porkchop, they both outranked him in their minds. So, Porkchop would get to sniffing Belle and Belle would hit him with her nose and drive him away. It was really interesting to watch. It was like having the queen's support gave Belle the confidence to protect herself. I didn't need to use my squirt bottle!

And then there was Tomo. Tomo was a poodle mix. A very very fluffy, 20 pound poodle mix. In all honesty, he looked like a sheep. Not a dog, a sheep.Much to his dismay, he looked even more like a sheep when Gloria herded him. Tomo was a gentleman and he greeted Belle properly, despite being a rescue dog who had been abandoned. He was a fat and happy little dude, and him and Belle became good friends.

Belle did absolutely wonderful at the park. I was (I AM) so happy that she gets along with everyone now. She was a completely different dog than she was the very first time I brought her to the park. The first day, she just wanted to be held. Yesterday, she was brave and bold enough to walk all the way to the other side of the fenced in area by herself or with the other dogs. She ran with them, she played with them. It was great.

As we were leaving, we passed by a yorkie who was trying to get picked up by her owner. Little Layla. I met Layla's owner, Liz, and asked if it was Layla's first day at the park. Liz replied, "Is it that obvious?" I told her only two days ago, it was Belle's first day at the park and she was just like Layla. She got a big smile on her face and said, "Wow, so there is hope for Layla!" Yep, now Belle is one of the regulars. No longer looking like a newbie. She even fooled a newbie into thinking she'd been there all her life. That's my girl!