Sage's right of passage

It's no secret that I love puppies, and one of my favorite parts about puppies is watching them grow and develop over the years. Being a part of a pack fulfills a much needed social aspect of our pups lives.

Just like high school kids, there are "cliques" within the pack. There is a general divide between the puppies and the older dogs that are too cool to put up with puppy play. One of the many milestones of a growing puppy is when an older dogs decides they are worthy of playing with. Welcome to the big kid clique, Sage.

When an older dog decides to play with a puppy, it is a reward for good behavior on the puppies part. It means that puppy has learned how to play properly, read body language and know how to play by the rules.

Gus, although still pretty much a puppy himself, wanted nothing to do with Sage when she first joined the pack. When she came charging past at turbo speed, he would tell her to slow down or get out of the way, but other than that, she was invisible to him. Yesterday, Gus engaged Sage for an awesome session of doodle dancing. I was so proud of little muppet (Sage) growing up so fast, and proud of Gus for being a patient and gentle teacher. I love nothing more than to see these relationships develop. GOOD PUPS!!!

Honeymoon at the dog park

Every new dog park pup that I've taken has what I call a "honeymoon" period. At first they are calm, sweet, responsive, just perfect angels. It usually takes about 3 weeks for them to fully adjust, be comfortable, and come out of their shell. This is when their true colors shine and I see what kind of pup they really are. I love to see a new pup starting to play more, beat the other dogs to get the ball and just generally having fun! Here is Heidi on her first day:

Here is Heidi 3 weeks later:

Where did your pup's name come from?

Did you know: "Jambo" means "hello" in swahili. Jennifer just got home from climbing Mt. Kilamanjaro when she got her 8 week old puppy. Exchanging "Jambo" with everyone she passed on the trail is what led to the name of her new pup! Is there a story behind your pup's name? Share it on our ballwalkpark Facebook page!

ballwalkpark talk

Everyone talks to their dog, right? Well, in my case, I talk to dogs A LOT. I spend the majority of my day, the majority of my time, with about 6 dogs and no humans. It can get lonely, but luckily I have all my four-legged friends to talk to. We have gone far beyond the normal commands dogs are usually used to being spoken to. I have actually found that not only do I talk to my dogs a lot while we are strolling through the park, but I talk to them very politely. I don't even talk to humans this politely (not intentionally - of course I always try and mind my manners ;) I call everyone by "Mr." or "Misses".

I say "excuse me"when I need them to move.

I apologize profusely if I ever run into any of them, or even worse, hit them with a ball from the chuck-it. (I consider this pretty normal behavior though....)

To get the ball back, I say"May I see that ball please?"

I always say "thank you". 

I even pick up their poop. 

I'm not sure how or why this habit started, but when I realized I was doing it I found it pretty humorous. Not only am I the crazy dog lady walking through the park carrying on conversations with a 4-legged-creature with a slimy stick hanging out of it's mouth, I am saying please and thank you and calling them for formal names. I think I may be due for a happy hour with friends or some type of human social interaction!