Bark Park Bonanza

Murphy and I have been bonding. We have some sort of activity that we do every day so that he can exercise his body and his mind. Most nights we go for a walk around the neighborhood. About twice a week, we head over to the closest dog park. At first, Murphy was not the least bit interested in playing with other dogs. He'd make the rounds of all the people standing around watching their own dogs play and see if he couldn't get them to pet him a little bit. Then he went through a phase where all he wanted to do was bark at the other dogs and try to intimidate them. Let me tell you -- that boy has got a serious-sounding bark. It didn't necessarily put any of the people at ease that he was being friendly with them. That bark sounded like pure aggression. So we laid off the park visits for awhile. Fast forward 4 months and we are back in action. I find that if I walk the perimeter of the park, he'll follow me. He stops to sniff the bushes and also pee on the bushes. Then he runs to catch up to me. And by lap 3 around the park, he is ready to meet some other dogs. He's still got that bark thing going on, but I am more convinced now that he just wants to play. The other dogs don't seem to feel threatened and so he is not threatened by them. Tonight Murphy met a puppy. He is so tired right now. He's snoring. Here's to an evening free of mischief.