Coco wasted no time with the mud today. Within minutes of entering the park she was on a path to the mud pit - there was no stopping her, not even a treat. It rained a ton over the weekend, so there is plenty of mud, but then since it has been so dry over the past couple of days the mud is really really thick. Coco shook numerous times and still couldn't get it off. So, our morning started with a bee-line to the beach.
Once we got to the water, Arten enjoyed cooling off in the lake - he was definitely over-dressed for the nice weather in his Tibetan Mastiff coat. We played fetch long enough to get Coco's mud washed off, and then headed back up to the "dome" area - the beach is too crowded on nice days like this! Stella and Tucker bobbed around further out in the water, catching any extra balls. Miles left the frisbee in the water and no matter how many dogs I asked to go get it, and threw rocks at the toy, nobody wanted to bring it back to me. They all saw what I was pointing at, swam out to it, and swam right past it. Luckily as we were leaving Coco snatched it up.
We spent the rest of the morning playing fetch and chase in the "dome" area. Shortly after we left the water Arten was already panting from the heat under that thick coat - he took refuge under a rare shady spot at Magnuson and wrestled with one of the dogs in Gretchen's pack.
This afternoon, Miss Maggie took our Jolly Ball and covered it in the mud pit. None of
the dogs really wanted to carry it after, so our trip to the water was 2 steps forward-5 steps back to to pick up the ball again. Chesa usually won't let the ball out of her sight, carrying it around the park everywhere, but even she was turned off... Maggie would ditch the ball in the trees, she would go give it a sniff and keep walking....
So I am dying to know what Milkshake and Dexter have been up to. The past two days at the water they just sit in one spot trying to dive and dig for something. Milkshake is usually a very avid fetcher, and Dexter loves to swim after a ball in the water too, but neither of them could take their attention off this object in the water, even with tennis balls flying right past them. They must know about something that we don't! While they were on their mission, Beaudy and Maggie were fielding all of the balls the chuck-it threw out, Walker and Cooper chased rocks thrown in the water, and Chesa ran around in circles were her clean Jolly ball.
There are three spots in the park where dogs go crazy. Not just my dogs, any dogs, especially any of the dog walker's packs. The spots are the area right up from the beach, before the gate, the area by the pagoda (where the water station is in the summer) and the mounds up by the main water station at the front gate. The dogs just love to run in circles around these areas - usually the whole pack gets into it.
Cooper and Walker were going at it when we got back to the dome. Those Viszlas are skinny little things but they sure do play hard! Cooper also got in his playtime with Miss Chesa. 
The best part of the day was when we were leaving the 2nd park trip - I had 3 dogs on leash, 4 unleashed as we were going to the truck. I was in the first park spot outside of the gate, so not a huge stretch, but we had the best load-up ever. As soon as we walked out of the gate every single dog lept up into the truck all at once. This process often is dog-by-dog, some requiring a lift, some pulling my wrist off in refusal, some not even following us to the gate to leave. It can really make or break a day, and this was the perfect ending to a wonderful day in the sun. Good job pups!
