Dog Park Personality #2

Dogs are all doing well. Simon is a pig. He's a counter surfer, and it's a wonder I can afford any more treats.

Full moon - beginning to wane, but still....


Okay. Which personality to pick next? Let's go with the one that really got to me this morning. Personality #2, the Drama Queen.

The Drama Queen is the one who sets everything up to not work right, and then reprimands the dog(s) for being dogs.

Example (from this morning): A woman was bringing her disabled child into the park, while also trying to walk her dog. The dog was a puppy: full of life, curiosity, and vigor. The child was trying to navigate the grass to the paddock, and as we walked by, the puppy was straining to make contact. Ooops! Drama Queen decided that this was just too much! How dare the puppy be a puppy! How dare he not just sit idly by and allow her to help her child? So, she began smacking the dog, believing this would stop the behavior. WRONG! Explain to me, please, how the puppy would, first of all, pass up the opportunity to rub fur with my four lovelies? Secondly, the puppy was probably tired of this "woman" controlling everything he did. He's a puppy, for goodness sake!

Now I'm sure they made it into the park, and the puppy was probably let off the lead, at some point, but the mother probably kept close to the disabled child, and constantly kept calling the name of the puppy - ensuring he would stop listening (yes, this is the same for children, as well), over and over. Her blood pressure was probably high, her nerves wrecked, and she was, most likely, being a total (no pun intended, or maybe it is) a b-i. But it was all her doing! And she will never understand it.

The poor pup is with a neurotic wreck! I hope he is able to survive, in some way, and manage to realize that the problem isn't really him, but her.

The Drama Queen creates chaos for her/himself. There are options. I know. I survived a Drama Queen. The entire scenario is a set-up for failure on someone's part- but NEVER the Drama Queen's. In this case, it's the dog.

Other examples seen of this, are the people who come to the dog park with a full picnic (I kid you not). They sit at the table and keep their dog on a leash. When other dogs come over, drawn by the scent, they raise a ruckus that would loosen Old Nick from his bench across the way (that would be me). "How dare those dogs come over and disrupt our dinner!" they would say. And my response (taken by proxy, as it really belongs to the man sitting across from me) is, "Read the F'ing signs you idiots! No People Food In the Park! And Let the Dog Off His Leash! It's a Dog Park, You F'ing Moron!"

This is met with a hootenany of scorn, followed by: "Well, I thought I lived in America, and it was a free country, you A-hole!"

Then they get up and leave. Their dog has not had any exercise, and the only marvelous surprise was they walked into a few piles of poo that others had not picked up earlier.

Later, these same people complained to the Park Bureau, and the parks department had a good chuckle.

We also have those who bring their dogs into the park, and then they play football or soccer. They ire easily when some of us throw our balls for the dogs into that same area.

"Hey! Can't you see we're trying to play ball here?"

"Hey! Can't you see you're walking in dog poo? This is a dog park! You have 5 acres of park to play out there, you git!"

People just don't seem to get it. They set themselves up in a variety of ways, then blame others because of their idiotic tendencies.

A most spectacular example to finish this off was the woman who came in with her dog. A beautiful dog, and the woman, at first, appeared rather normal.

Well, the dog had a bad habit of carrying two balls in his mouth. Not a good thing, but the woman yukked it up. That is until her dog swallowed one of the balls, and then began to choke.

One man ran over and began to attempt to dislodge the ball from the dog's throat. I decided I would try the Heimlich Maneuver. We began our tasks, but the woman wouldn't let go of the dog. She was tugging and pulling on him, as he choked, his life in the hands of two strangers, and his death in hers.

Eventually, we succeeded in rescuing him, and the woman was grateful. She stated that she would never allow this to happen again. However, not ten minutes later, the dog had 2 balls in his mouth and was running around the park. Her comment? "It's okay. I believe he learned his lesson! and he seems so happy!"

Drama Queen!