Gideon's First Visit to the Dog Park

Gideon has never been to a dog park before. And for purely selfish reasons on my part. I am scared to death of dog fights. I have no idea why. Have no past bad experiences, but I really do need to quit being a big baby about it. Anywho . . .

We are new members of oes.org — an online community of Old English Sheepdog owners from around the globe — and they have a section on their website for posting OES playdates at area dog parks. I saw one for a group that meets 5 minutes from where we live! I couldn't believe that there are more OES's out there in our area. They posted a play date for this evening and I sucked it up and decided we'd go. We had a blast. Three other OES's and their owners showed up (they do a big sheepie play date in late October where 40-50 sheepies show up!). It was great to share stories of our "kids" as well as swap info about the breed.

Gideon was not nearly as playful as the others. He stayed close to me or Harleigh, seeming more of a momma's boy than I would have liked. But he seemed to enjoy himself and is now zonked out asleep.

Here are pix. One of the OES, Sunshine, is a rescue dog whose tail was never docked. A few pictures show a breed I've never seen before, a Tibetan Mastiff, otherwise known as the "lion dog." His name is Aslan and he is just as regal and as gentle a giant as the lion in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.