It's been another week of beautiful days, and Gary and I got Savannah into the car yesterday with plans to let her run around the dog park. As always now, once Savannah sees the open back door of my husband's car, she jumps right in there and positions herself so she can see out the side window. I have cleaned off all the puppy-spit that was all over that window... Savannah no longer slobbers all over the glass and she seems to be quite comfortable as a back-seat puppy.
Off we went... down our country road, onto the main highway... and as we turned into the lane towards the dog park, the fence was closed. What? Ah... yesterday was Monday. The dog park is closed every Monday for landscaping. We totally forgot it was Monday. (Which isn't that hard to do because every day is the same in this little country bubble of ours.)
I turned around in my seat and there was Savannah, her front paws moving from side to side... she definitely knew where we were and she was ready to get out of that car... she saw the pond and the fenced-in areas... that puppy knew we were at one of her favorite places... and we couldn't get in. As my husband turned the car around, Savannah's head and half of her body turned back towards the park. If Savannah had a voice, she would have been saying "Hey! Where are you going? The park is here! Here!!"
Well, we were halfway into town, Savannah was clearly ready for a walk... so we drove on further to the 'downtown' area of our small town and went to the municipal park near the ball fields. Dogs must be kept on leashes in that park, but there's a lot to look at... a vintage carousel, skateboard ramps, a Veterans' Memorial, a playground with picnic tables, a large gazebo.... interesting things for us to look at, but not much for Savannah, unless you count the grass. As luck would have it, there were no other dogs and their owners in the park, and Savannah stayed away from the little kids on the playground. Strangely enough, none of them ran over to us asking if they could pet the puppy.
After the short walk around the park, we got into the car again and drove to the supermarket... I waited in the car with Savannah and my husband went into the store for ice cream. (Warm enough in December for ice cream... got to love these Texas winters.) As we waited for Gary to come out of the store, Savannah watched all the people going in and out of their cars and walking in the parking lot towards the store. She didn't bark at anyone, but seemed very content to just keep watching them. I imagined Savannah lifting her paw up to her eyes, then pointing her paw at the people and saying "I'm watching you....." (If only this dog had a voice.)
When we got back home, I took Savannah on a walk up and down our road... she seemed content with that, although I know a good long run in the dog park would have been more fun for her. We won't make that mistake again.... the dog park is closed every Monday and that's that.
Tonight when I took Savannah for a walk, there was a skunk coming out of our barn... just walking under the carport there as if he owned the place. Given the possibility of being sprayed with god-awful skunk stuff, there's no doubt that any other animal would be foolish to argue with a skunk over squatter's rights to the barn.
I saw the skunk before Savannah did, and I grabbed that leash with both hands... which was a good thing because when she did see the skunk Savannah started growling and lunging towards it. Not a good thing... but thankfully, we were far enough away from the skunk and it just kept on walking towards the property across the road. Beautiful animal, that skunk... long bushy tail and that cute little pointed nose... it made me think of the little skunk named Flower in the Disney movie "Bambi." I've no doubt that a Disney skunk isn't anything like a real skunk... so I walked Savannah in the other direction... no sense in testing one's luck with a full-grown skunk who has never read the script for the "Bambi" movie.
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