My Exciting Visit to the Park

[Cheetah]

Well, I've got a day off, and I lounged around most of the day. Finally, I decided to leash up Shippo and go to the park for some fetch and exercise.

When we got there, we first answered a lady's question about what breed Shippo was (I get at least ONE each time lmfao). Afterwards, we went to the baseball diamond and played fetch till Shippo was finally tired. I took a couple pics that probably didn't come out, and then we walked to the car to put the ball and camera away so we could take a couple laps around the park. When I got to the car, however, I spotted a car with an open door, following a loose dog into the park. I put Shippo in the car and stood back for a moment to watch.

There was a guy in the car, and a guy outside of the car, both chasing this dog, who was having a wonderful time running away! I stood and watched, as the other guy parked the car and got out, and both men chased this dog around the park. What a fun game of chase! Finally, the guy who wasn't in the car gave up and left. The other guy got back in the car and sat there, calling his dog over and over again, while the dog slunk over to him, and darted out of his reach repeatedly. Finally, I walked over and asked the guy if he needed any help. He asked me if I could herd his dog towards the car.

Slowly, I walked parallel to the dog, in an attempt to head her off before she could trot too far away. When the dog looked at me, I kinda turned away, then kept walking when she lost interest. Then she stopped to sniff something, and I used that opportunity to turn a bit to the side and drop calmly to the ground, holding my hand out a bit, but not facing the dog. It worked! She slunk over to me, wiggling her entire back end and sniffed me all over. She was dragging the remains of a leash, so while praising her, I just slowly, calmly reached down and took hold of the leash, making sure not to put any tension on it. Then, I stood up, continued to praise her, and led her back to her owner, who managed to get her into the car, and thanked me profusely. He said she was new and young, and she'd somehow gotten out the window, didn't know any commands, and ran off (with the guy's encouragement of course lmao). They both went home happy, and hopefully, she'll get some training.

After that, Shippo and I took a couple laps around the park, met a couple dogs, and went home happy. What an interesting day at the park. I'm so happy I got to help somebody!

[MyPemCharlie]

That's a great story. Funny too. I can just see those guys chasing after the dog...which is a fabulous and fun game to the dog. LOL

Even with a lot of training, my last dog would occassionally get stubborn and go deaf "I can't hear you!" when we were at an off-leash park. After calling "come" once, if he was playing deaf dog and didn't listen, I'd walk parallel to him like you did. Then I'd say, "OK, I'm leaving!" and start briskly walking away from him. He certainly didn't want me to leave him there, so he'd run right up to me to snap on the leash. "Good Come, Boy!" - eye roll.

When Charlie doesn't come to me on a first call, I change to "Wanna biscuit?". Gets him every time. I may change his name to "Biscuit". LOL