Night at the Run

Every night for about the last week, Marley and I have been visiting the dog run.  This doesn't include the five times we went over the weekend.  We go just before dinner or just after dinner, either about 6:45 or about 7:30.  We stay for an hour, which is about how long it takes for it to feel too cold for me to stay any longer.  Marley could stay all night and not feel the cold.

The coldest days of winter seem to be behind us, or the humans have gotten more used to the weather.  When we arrive at the run, there are always other dogs there.  Marley and I have been the last ones there, but someone usually is there after we leave.  A lot of the dogs are close to Marley's size.

The rules say that the run is supposed to close at dusk, but the area is pretty well lit up, so people bring their dogs as late as 9 pm.

On Wednesday night, there were 7 dogs in the run while we were there.  Cody was desparate to play with Marley, but Marley fell in love with a 2 year old German Shepherd named Leilah.  She's a good 30% larger than Marley. 

The dogs would all be running around together and Cody would get in Marley's face and bark.  After facing off against Cody, Marley ran off and found Leilah.  He repeatedly got on top of her and started humping.  At the same time, she was chasing after a smaller Vizsla, so Marley was getting quite a ride.  Until Leilah turned, tossed him off and barked at him.  Repeat all this about ten times.

After Leilah and her daddy left, Cody got to play with Marley and the barking stopped.

Marley got me to the run about 7:30 on Thursday night.  There were about 5 or 6 dogs there when we arrived, including Cody, Charlie, and 2 Vizslas.  Cody and Marley sparred with each other for a good ten minutes.  Then the dogs all sprinted back & forth in a pack for a while. 

Marley jumped up on a bench to rest.  A minute later, he tried jumping down and got his hind legs caught between bench slats.  Marley yelped and several dog owners moved to help him.  He was able to get free with some assistance, but he was visibly limping.  He had trouble putting his full weight on his right rear leg for a few minutes, but slowly walked around the run.  I couldn't tell if he had a splinter or if something was seriously wrong.  I noticed something on his other rear leg, but couldn't really see what it was.  So we went home early.

Marley moved a little slowly across 1st Avenue and gingerly made his way up the steps to Tudor City.  A little further along, he stopped at the four remaining snow piles for a quick frozen snack.  By the time we got home, Marley was walking and running fine.  I also saw that he had a bloody gash on his left rear leg.  I cleaned the wound and put some ointment on it.  A scab was forming this morning and Marley seemed to feel fine.  We might not get back to the run this evening, but we'll surely spend time there this weekend.