the dog park

As a new dog owner I have been discovering the joys of the dog park.

please please can I go to the dog park please please

My favourite time to go is when there is no-one else there.  Then Scooter and I practise the obstacle course - well she runs it and I tell her to run it.  She can now go all around the course as soon as I say 'do the course' as long as I throw the ball for her at the end.  She is very motivated by the ball being thrown for her.  She is not interested in food rewards AT ALL.  Someone told me  that offering a food reward to a border collie is an insult - they wants jobs, they want to please you, they want to herd something and put it into a gated small area.

Anyway, when I go at times when there are other patrons of the dog parks there with their dogs it is very interesting.  There is the fat lady with the massive greyhound, the two guys with the labrador, the old guy with his white fluffy thing, 

and the Weird 3 Whippet Woman.

She is always there with her three whippets - offering advice to everyone else on how to train their dogs.  She has a bum bag full of treats and a critical eye for other dog owners.  Her whippets take it in turns to be subservient.  I had been 'advised' by her on a few previous occasions on how to train Scooter, and it was getting a bit irritating.  So today when she started towards me, surrounded by the whippets with an earnest expression on her face I countered with a cheery 'hello, it might rain today what do you think okay Scooter get your ball let's go!'  and pretended to run across to the other side of the park.

Avoidance?  Possibly.

But there is only so much not needed advice I can listen to on a glorious Friday afternoon from the Weird 3 Whippet Woman.