Another beautiful day for dogs!  Both groups went to Southland and thoroughly enjoyed the bits of crunchy snow and sloppy sections.

Vinnie blue-eyes, Everest, Guinness, Marty, Nicky, Ryder Frank, Erkle and Whistler made up the morning group.  Frank usually is an afternoon guy but I was very glad that he came along in the morning as he helped me out a lot with Erkle.  As you know Erkle is a bit of a softy so I tied him to Frank and Frank walked him around the park.  Erkle got more exercise than if he walked with me plus he also got to experience the park from a dog's point of view.  Thank you Frank for being such a good sport!!  Just as an aside Frank tagged along in the afternoon too and by the time he hit the truck after the second walk he was exhausted.  Poor little guy. 

Vinnie, Guinness and Nicky got along really well and had lots of fun growling and play fighting with each other.  Surprisingly they did not get too dirty and actually had clean feet when they got home.  Ryder and Marty had their usual "spats".  Marty wants to play and Ryder will have nothing to do with playing with a pup although Marty is a year old now.  Marty's coat is like Velcro and everything sticks to it and in it.  So when I got him home he was filthy and no amount of toweling would get all the dog park debris out so I put him in the laundry tub while you would think I was scalding the little thing with acid they way he reacted.  It was OK to run through mud puddles, walk around a swamp but clean water is like acid to dogs. 

Cheetos, Clover, Duchess, Owen, Rover, Mitch, Bruin, Wilbur, Frank and Everest made up the afternoon group of swamp rats.  Like moths to a flame they all headed to the swampy section and began wading around and drinking the water (watch out for a bit of the runs).  Everest was so happy he just stood in the water and looked at me like I was crazy for not joining him.  Duchess and her new best buddy Owen splashed and turned circles while trying to run in the water that was up to their tummies.  Clover and Cheetos were the classy ones - they stayed dry. 

Rover is enjoying the bike riders that use the pathway through the park (I guess it was good for something).  He just LOVES to chase the riders and bark at them.  He must have lapped the park at least twice.  When he made his way back to the group he was huffing and puffing and grinning from ear to ear.  I let him do it because there is no way he can get to the riders and it seems that they expect it as no one has complained. 

Mitch and Wilbur were like two little black blurs - I rarely see one without the other.