Weekend

I took Marley to the dog run four times this weekend. Our shortest trip out was 45 minutes, but the other trips were all over an hour each.

Saturday was cold and with the wind gusting at over 40 mph, it was wicked bitter frigid. In the morning, Marley played with a black dog about his size and age at the dog run. When we were done at the dog run, we ran 3/4 of the way around the block to a ball field type playground. A two-year old black lab named Bella was already there with her mother. Marley and Bella chased a tennis ball and each other around for 15 minutes before Bella had to leave. I threw Marley's hard purple ball, one that once had a squeaker, and he retrieved it regularly for about ten minutes. Then a family came to play field hockey, so we left. On the way home, Marley found an eight-inch stick, which he devoured completely in the next hour.

Saturday afternoon, we went back to the dog run. The other dog that was there didn't interact with Marley very much, so I wound up tossing the ball to him for most of the time. We stayed for about a half hour. I thought we were going back to the apartment, but wound up walking and running around the neighborhood for another half hour. That included going up and down about 15 flights of stairs. So we got a workout.

Later, Debbie and I rolled out a new rug that we recently bought for the living room. Marley was curious about what it was and was all over it immediately. He figured out that it was softer than the bare floor and lay on it for a while.

Late in the afternoon and again at dinner time, Marley threw up the stick and everything else he ate on Saturday. Not wonderful to clean up, but it got done. Afterwards, I gave him some more food and he kept it down. Marley fell asleep early Saturday night, about 9 pm. He lay half on the new rug and half on the floor in front of the hutch. Every once in a while, he curled up completely on the rug, later uncurling to his original position.

Sunday morning was actually colder than Saturday, about 16 degrees, but felt better because the wind was fairly still. It helped that the sky was clear and the sun shone directly on us. There were two dogs Marley had played with before at the dog run and the three of them ran together for 30 minutes. Marley and I stayed longer and he chased his ball around.

Sunday afternoon was more humid and that made it seem colder. There was also a little breeze. I doubled up before taking Marley out - two hats, two pair of socks, two pair of pants. This is in addition to six layers on my torso and a scarf to keep my nose and chin warm. Marley was oblivious to the weather. In the time we were at the dog run, there were four other dogs there. Marley played with 3 of them. The last was a black lab named Charlie who is the same age as Marley. Charlie is probably a few inches longer/taller and 10 lbs heavier than Marley, but they were well matched in temperament and energy level. They sparred well together.

A lot of people, especially those who don't have dogs, don't understand dog play. The dogs will charge at each other and lunge forward with their upper bodies, winding up leaning on each other, stretched out and standing tall on their hind legs. They'll show their teeth and hiss at each other and use their front legs to get better position. It looks like serious fighting, but it's all in good fun. Sometimes, you have to look closely to tell the difference. Another clue is to see if the tails are wagging or stiff.