A Boxer, A Bull Dog, and a Big Ball

I have anxiously been awaiting a day that would be cool enough and lacking humidity to take a trip to the dog park with Lucy. I've been feeling guilty because Lucy is cooped up with me in the store all day- just because her Human is goofy enough to spend 6 days a week at work, doesn't mean she should suffer! And Lucy's just been sad that she's missing all of her little play dates! Finally, yesterday was that day. It's June- but I changed out of my shorts before leaving for work and put jeans on in the interest of not freezing all day. And at 5:45 after seeing no customers all day long- I said "We're outta here, Lucy! Let's go to the dog park!" I got no resistance!

Lucy's little butt started wiggling the second we got within sniffing distance of the park. There were dogs everywhere! She instantly spotted a little bull dog and it was all I could do to keep her from jumping right out of the car window! (Thank goodness for car harnesses and windows that fly up with lightning speed!)

The Bull Dogs name is Sammy. Lucy's never met Sammy before, but I had the pleasure a few months ago on one of my preparation trips to Petco before Lucy came home. She's a sweet little thing- and as I found out last night- her greatest passion is giant balls- and she was more than happy to show my little boxer exactly how to take care of business with that giant ball!

Sammy's Human tossed that big purple ball out into the grass, and Sammy took off. It only took Lucy about 5 seconds to decide "Hey, that looks like fun!" and Lucy was off and running right next to Sammy trying to catch up with the ball and Sammy. The funniest part of watching the bull dog with the ball was the size of the ball compared to the size of the bull dog! She would get her whole head underneath the ball and pitch it into the air which completely fascinated my little boxer and all of the Humans watching this little game! I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Lucy figures out exactly how that works.

Lucy and Sammy chased that ball up and down the dog park for all of 45 minutes. I couldn't believe how closely Lucy watched that ball, or that it didn't seem to matter that there were about 6 other dogs in the park at the time this ball chasing game was going on. Sammy's Human was so tickled with the way Lucy was playing with her bull dog, and how much fun they were having that she gave Lucy a big purple ball of her own before leaving for the evening! I'm hoping that we see them there again, it was great to see Lucy so actively playing with a ball and another dog and the contrast between boxer and bull dog is quite striking.

I stayed pretty close to Lucy and Sammy for a while- hoping to capture that perfect Kodak moment, and in the process uncovered the mystery that Sammy's Human has been trying to figure out as long as Sammy has been playing with balls. Sammy has figured out how to pull the plastic plug right out of the ball- her Human thought she was just putting holes in the ball! I caught on to that quickly, and struggled over two excited pups attempting to replug the ball before it lost all of it's air. That was a lot of fun!

I'm so happy my little boxer has a new friend, and even more excited about the new toy we've found for her. I couldn't wait to get home and toss that big purple ball across our yard and watch Lucy go! I was also curious to see if the German Shepherd would leave both Lucy and the ball alone- thankfully, he had no interest in the ball when I put it in the yard. Actually, he looked at me like I was insane, and when Lucy flew over the top of the ball and did a complete flip landing on her back- he looked at her like she had lost her marbles too!

I think Lucy's adventure at the dog park completely wore her out, because I only got about 5 minutes of entertainment out of Lucy and the ball before she stopped dead in the middle of the yard and refused to move another inch.

Lucy's Daddy came home with Ribs, baked beans and coleslaw from "BIG DOGS", and Lucy politely sat at our feet just waiting for something to drop. "Good Lucy!" When all the ribs were gone, her Daddy handed her the bean container and let her clean it out. This little boxer is definitely living the life!