A nice weekend

This is a picture of Marley sleeping in the living room at about 10:20 last night. He looks happy, and he should - we got to the dog run six times over the long weekend and Marley must have encountered 30 dogs or more on Monday. He's probably dreaming of chasing some big dogs.

Saturday afternoon was warm, for January, and sunny. Everyone brought their dogs to the dog run, particularly those who were away during the coldest weather recently. In the sunshine, when the wind was still, it felt like spring. At one time, there may have been more than a dozen dogs in the run, which is just about capacity. The dogs were in groups of 2 or 3, either running together or just milling about together. And there were 4 or 5 balls being tossed about.

Sunday morning was 10 degrees colder and much damper than Saturday. Although it was about 37, it felt much colder. You could tell it was going to rain, which it did most of Sunday afternoon and evening. I got Marley down to the dog run by 9 am and he played with Luke for about a half hour. We then ran over to the playground and I tossed the ball for Marley to fetch for 15 minutes or so. Then Marley saw his buddy Charlie, a 10-month old Boston Terrier/Beagle mix, with his grandpa heading over to the dog run. Marley got really animated at that point and about 10 minutes later, we went back to the dog run and stayed there for another hour. We left when I got too cold to stay any longer. After this 2-hour outing, Marley slept most of the afternoon and evening. That was fine, because it rained while he slept.

Monday started out so-so, but developed into a nice warm day. We got to the dog run 3 times. We actually saw more dogs after 9 pm on the street than at the dog run. Marley played with a Maxie, an 18-month old bulldog, between 41st Street and the bridge at 42nd Street for a good 10 minutes. When we first brought Marley home, Maxie was much bigger than Marley. Marley is now much taller & longer than Maxie and is probably 50% heavier. When they play, Marley often jumps right over Maxie.

A little later we ran into RJ with one of his bit bulls, a 2-1/2 year old female almost exactly Marley's size. These 2 dogs have always played well together. RJ is a trainer and has rescued several bit bulls. He recently was taking care of 4 of them by himself. Marley and RJ's dog played for 10 minutes and then Marley & I ran around the block. Within 15 minutes of getting home, Marley fell asleep.