Holy Terrier

Thursday was a rare day.  I only had two dogs with me at the park.  So much individual attention is a really nice thing once in a while.  However, the two dogs I had with me were my terriers, Nuala and Bennie.  So of course, they chose to spend their time on opposite ends of the park.  Nuala wanted to be at the North field.  She likes playing fetch there because she gets to hide the ball in the trees once she has fetched it up, thereby having a game of hide-and-seek with me while I am having a game of fetch with her.

Bennie decided the tree at the south end of South field was the place to be.  The weekend bartender for a fine local establishment was sitting at the picnic table under the tree there, and Bennie really enjoyed his quiet calm demeanor, and his fun dogs.  Bennie enjoyed it so much, that even though he came and checked in with me once, he immediately went back to the corner, and never came back.  So once Nuala was appropriately exhausted, I went to check on Bennie.  And instead of following, Nuala being a terrier and in charge of her self, stayed under the big tree in the middle of the park for about 15 minutes before she came to find me.

Having a pack follow you around you can feel a bit like a pied piper sometimes.  Thursday was a nice change for me.  A chance to enjoy each of the dogs for their own beauty and style without balancing their needs against the needs of the other dogs in the pack.  As small as my packs are, this isn't generally an issue for me, but sometimes it's nice to be able to give one dog 99% of your attention, even if it is only for  15 or 20 minutes.