Yappy Hour

Last Thursday wasn’t a good day for me, so after school I fed the dogs and crashed. My alarm went off announcing Yappy Hour, an event that I had programed into my phone earlier last week. I didn’t want to go. I was tired, cranky, and didn’t want to face a bunch of people. Still, I told myself that it might be fun, but if it wasn’t I could always leave and not bother going back to it the last two Thursdays of this month.

So, I dragged myself out of bed, put on “going out” clothes, grabbed Haley, and we drove across town to the dog park. On the way there, I told Haley that I wasn’t sure what the event would be like and that if she didn’t like being there, all she had to do was bark. She looked at me as if she knew what I was saying.

We arrived at the dog park and the event was smaller than I anticipated. I expected something huge, but it was a nice, personable event. The dogs were polite and playing together. It wouldn’t hurt to stay a few minutes.

We arrived at the same time as a couple German Shepherds. A dog barked at the gate. I tried to get Haley to go inside without letting the dog out. Being a princess, Haley feels that the gate or door has to be wide open before she can pass over the threshold. I pushed her through the small gap and tried to squeeze through, but the dog got out. The owner came and retrieved the dog and I walked away with Haley.

Most of the dogs there were big, but there were a handful of small dogs. Haley isn’t prone to interact with other dogs and sniffed around the tables because she knew that there was food on them.

After getting a dog biscuit and polishing it off, she went in search of another place with treats. Then she disappeared behind another table. I thought she was underneath the table, but when I searched for her, I found that she had made herself comfortable in a lady’s chair. The lady was one of the dog trainers and Haley used her charming skills to get several treats from her, even convincing her that the treats needed to be broken up into smaller pieces and hand fed. I just shook my head.

My neighbor’s mom’s dog was there. His name is Tito and he’s a four month old Shih Tzu-Chihuahua and a bundle of energy, never sitting still long enough for a pet. Despite being the same age as the Golden Retriever puppy, Tito quickly became the darling of the dog park, probably because he was so tiny and lightning fast.

There were drawings for prizes and even a trick contest. I thought about entering Haley into the contest, but I felt that her shake and speak were basic tricks. In hindsight, I think Haley would have done just fine. Several of the dogs were distracted and didn’t perform as well as they normally did when they were at home.

The contest winner was the most adorable black and white Pomeranian named Flower. I wasn’t surprised. Her cuteness alone would have won the contest.

Shortly after the contest, it was time to go. An hour and a half had passed that quickly? So much for staying only a couple minutes and leaving.

As we left, I called my mom and told her about how Haley had taken over the lady’s chair and somehow convinced her to dote on Haley. We agreed that it’s typical Haley behavior.

I plan on going back again this Thursday. This time I’m going to take Clara and Molly. I thought about taking all three Shih Tzus, but I decided that I didn’t want to try to keep an eye on three dogs. I just need to bathe them and give them haircuts, or at the very least trim the hair back from their eyes.

I hope this week will be just as much fun as last week. Or at least as relaxing as it was. I’ll keep you posted.

Until next time, drag your human to the next doggy event. It will be good for them.