February 1, 2015

White Dog said, "Cue the Hallelujah Chorus! New month! Sunshine! What a Wonderful World!" The WDA sang along with full hearts, their harmonies every bit as beautiful as the Royal Choral Society's. Then she and the White Dog Army smothered Steve and I in a cloud of white (with one darker speck) and sang out, "PARK DAY!"

Steve struggled to get up from the floor. "BEFORE breakfast?" he asked. The WDA looked at each other and dashed into the kitchen. "I guess that would be a unanimous vote for after," I commented.

Still chewing, White Dog hopped on the leashing chair and indicated she was ready to go. "Hold on Little White Dog of My Heart. There are seven of you. this is a process."

Steve went out to reconfigure Pumpkin for Army riding and I went into the office. Bella still does not come when called to put her harness on, but she devotedly follows me to my desk and sits beside me so she can be lifted into my lap and dressed.

Taiko came in and softly asked to be excused. Tai is not a huge fan of car rides on the best of days. He was still feeling stiff and a bit achy; he suggested a long drink of water and a nice nap on his orthopedic mattress might be a better choice. WD and Steve tucked him in with a cookie and off we headed.

The skies were blue! The weather was perfect! The sun was ideal for sitting on the grass and soaking in vitamin D.

AND this was Zsofia's first trip to the park! Ever! Sometimes it is very hard to remember that our itty bitty baby is only going to be seven months old next week. To say our darkest white dog loved the adventure would be an extreme understatement. Even Yo had to hustle to keep up with her enthusiastic attempts to gallop.

I DID come back from the trip aged by about 100 years. Sachi, our Little Man managed to slip out of my grasp as I juggled leashes to unbraid the twisted results of four pups each investigating different directions. Now, ALL of the WDA daily practices stop! stay! and wait! but Sachi-san looked me in the eye and dashed over to watch the medieval group in their sword fighting. Steve, Bella and Zso were on the far side of the park and could not hear me screaming like a lunatic for our Undaunted One to come back. Fortunately a man in the group noticed the Little White Dog dragging his lime green leash and heard my cries. He was savvy enough to know not to chase him because Sachi would have made a game of it, but rather sort of followed and herded him in a loop back toward us, as I continued to call him. Finally Steve and the team caught on to the excitement and headed back at top speed. Sachi ran over to greet our family and Steve snagged his leash. Our boy was totally unrepentant and did not understand why I was not as happy about his little tour as he was. Nor did the others understand why I kissed our bad boy on the head and hugged him tight.