The day finally arrived! Sydney's last vaccinations. My little guy is now part of the real world. After waiting a little over two months, I think I was probably more excited than he was at all of the new possibilities and experiences that awaited him.
I've lived in Miami over 30 years and never been to the dog park. I can hardly believe it. I guess the reason was that none of my dogs were very social with other dogs so I never took the chance. I wasn't going to make the same mistake with Sydney. We were going to get him socialized.
Like a nervous first time mom, I packed anything and everything (except maybe the kitchen sink). Towels, wipes, ear cleaner, hairbrush, water bowl, water, food, leash and a frisbee. I later changed my mind about the frisbee realizing that toys and food are triggers for aggressive behaviour and didn't want to take any chances Sydney's first time at the park could be ruined.
I suppose a weekday instead of the weekend would have been a better choice for our first time at the park but the weekend is all we had. As I pulled up into the parking lot, I noticed there must have been well over 20 dogs already there. I was a little ambivalent and almost turned around and went home, but decided to tough it out and see how things played out.
The minute we entered the fenced in area, Sydney began pulling on his leash and in less than 30 seconds was surrounded by two dogs that had come to say hello. I released Sydney and the poor little darling tried to run as far away from the dogs that were chasing him as possible. He just didn't understand what was going on. In less than five minutes, he had dogs everywhere.
It didn't take long before Sydney began to feel right at home. I can't begin to express the joy it gave me to see him running around the playground, chasing the other dogs, going up to the people to say hello. After about 25 minutes of running around non-stop, Sydney was all tuckered out and ran up onto one of the obstacle course platforms and just layed down. Not only did it give him an opportunity to rest, it gave him a great vantage point in which to check things out.
Needless to say, Sydney's first day at the park was a big hit. I don't know which one of us enjoyed it more. This will be the first of many, many afternoons spent there. Although I'm thinking about trying out a different one next time just to see the difference. Will keep you posted.
