Saturday, July 5, 2008
Pool Party

Those of you who know me know how much I hate being wet. I don't like the bath, rain, puddles, or pools. So why did I go a pool party? Because there were other dogs there of course! Plus my human thought it would be fun. Yes this was another Arizona Goldens event. This group knows how to party.

We knew this was going to be a crazy adventure the moment we stepped out of the van and the lawn sprinklers suddenly changed direction and hit us as we were walking down the van ramp. Then one chased us down the drive towards the house. We were already wet and still 2000 feet from the pool.

The moment we got inside my nose was twitching with interesting smells. I recognized Hope, Ella and Quest right away. They had also come through here. There were some other dog smells I didn't recognize so the moment I did contact them I quickly assessed them with some butt sniffing. There were so many dogs and people and I smelled food. This place had it all! I wasn't able to control my excitement and pulled my human around by the leash a bit more than I should have. I'm pretty sure she corrected me a few times but I was entranced by all the chaos I didn't really notice.

We played a few games. Many of the dogs took off from their handlers so naturally I followed suit. Ya I was bad dog, but it felt so good to be bad. We then played a retrieving game and for this I worked with Ivy. My human couldn't take the steps to get down to the tennis court so she took pictures instead.

Lastly we were led to the pool. Some of the dogs were let off the leash and they dove right in. Personally I think they are crazy. Ivy got in the pool while holding my leash and tried to coax me in. Didn't someone tell her I don't do pools? Everyone tried to lure me in, even with treats. I clung to the dry side of the pools edge like my very life depended on it. They finally gave up and removed my leash. I ran and ran so far and fast. I bolted around the pool, across the yard, around bushes and leapt over other dogs.

At some point I made the mistake of getting too close to the pool and was grabbed by a few of the humans in the pool. I will give them credit for being very gentile and moving slowly with me. My human was kind enough to relay my phobia of the water prior to attending the party. I was terrified but I think I handled it well. Well, as long as he didn't try letting go of me in the water that is. Once the arms loosed I was in an all out panic to get to dry land. Once on dry land I ran to a grassy patch and rolled around to dry myself as quickly as possible.

Most of the dogs would shake off after getting out of the pool. Though I'm not sure why because they often jumped right back in again; did I mention they are crazy. I on the other hand head for an area of dry clean dirt and grass to roll in to dry myself. This apparently annoys my human to know end but I don't see why.