You Dirty Dog

Not since the Great Poop Indecent of 2006 has my dog been as dirty as he is this evening (the above photo may not do it justice. Trust me, he's grubby). Why not bathe him, you ask? Well, because A. I am presently lazy, and B. It's actually kind of cold here and in addition to being lazy I've become a temperature wimp (I bathe him with the hose outside).

I took Oliver for nice walk on Palm Beach this late afternoon and then we went to the dog park. He was very playful with the other dogs which was nice. Generally, he's what psychologists would refer to as a "parallel player". He'll say hello to the other dogs then wander off to look for lizards, ignoring the other dogs for the remainder of the park visit.

Maybe it's too chilly out now and he knows all the lizards are gone so he might as well get along with the other four-legged hairy ones already.

I do wish I'd brought my little video camera because his body language on a few occasions was different than I've seen. Head and front legs low to the ground, butt way up in the air, waving back and forth with the frenzy and inertia of his tail. C'mon, play! I dare you! His head would gesture dramatically, all the while staying in this playing pose, his ears flapping with his nodding head.

He got into the dirt with his friends and I brought him home with a grey Pigpen cloud mingling around him, like a real dog. Not the prissy self-cleaning one I know, own and love.

The visit was not without it's humping however. At one point, I almost said out-loud, (but didn't because I didn't want to offend the dog owner with my bias) "Oliver, let's not hump the 120 pound rotweiler who can bite your head off like an impatient toostie pop lover!"

One girl, who looked familiar, turned to me after she heard me say to my humping boy "Oliver, you don't make friends that way!".

"I knew I remembered that dog!" she laughed and turned to another dog owner, "I knew the minute I saw him doing that that I knew him!" she said, adding genuinely "He's such a sweet dog!"

Yup, I'm proud.