Its a dog's life

Darling Darla and her big day out...

Saturday morning we woke bright and early. I wanted to try to go back to sleep but Miss Darla was ready to go. We spent some time in the yard. Me throwing the frisbee and tennis balls; Darla chasing after them, but never picking them up. She doesn't quite understand the game. Then we fertilized the garden. Darla loves this, as we use fish emulsion and it stinks like rotting animal - it doesn't take much to make her happy.

Then we headed to the Santa Cruz river where we met up with my mom and her dog Morgan. We let the ladies run loose for about 45 minutes. Darla weaving in between me and my mom at an incredible speed and running right in to Morgan several times. I think this is her way of trying to make friends - Morgan is not so sure she likes the young pup yet. On the way back to our cars we ran into two very large off-leash males and their person. I was so nervous, but everyone played nice. Well, almost everyone. One of the males decided to "mark" Morgan. Good thing our next stop was Dirty Dawgs.

Dirty Dawgs, if you've never been, is a self service dog wash. The owner, Rebecca, provides raised bath tubs, warm water, shampoo, conditioner, towels, blow dryers, treats, toe nail clippers, etc... Its pretty much a doggy day spa. This was Darla's first bath ever, so she was understandably nervous. She did a great job and is so soft and shiny now. The scariest part was when Rebecca clipped Darla's nails. Darla made it through the first paw no problems, the second paw produced some growling and unfortunately a snap. No damage was done and Rebecca offered a treat as an apology, and then they were friends again.

All in all it was a pretty fun day for Miss Darla and myself. She is very well behaved when we are out in public and loves to be out and about.

This Thursday is Darla's graduation from beginning obedience. She will be competing for some pretty sweet prizes and will be displaying a trick - I'm not sure what that trick is as of yet, but I'm sure it will be a crowd pleaser.