Vermont is for (Dog) Lovers

Public Service Announcement:

Yesterday was a great day. We got off to a late start for the planned activities and Mommy learned to Practice What She Preaches. Because it had been a while since we had been up to Vermont, I started the morning on an extensive off-lead patrol.  No one was here because it is still Mud Season (the season between Hiking and Swimming Season and Ski and Snow Season), so I thought this would be an opportune time to expand my estate. None of my buddies, dog or human, were here, so I had to patrol their areas too. I checked out 2 ponds on my estate, ate some sticks, and stretched my legs a little. P-Daddy and I played chase in the woods while Mommy drove the car around looking for me. We finished the game in a great big dog run that had lines painted on it, but no dogs in it. 

Speaking of dog runs, we then went on the first planned excursion of the day: to donate money to the Manchester Vermont Dog Park! This didn't sound like much fun for Addled Less Sense like me (thanks, Mango, for the new vocabulary), until I found out that it was at the Orvis Flagship Store as part of their Orvis Spring Days! (Though I was not allowed inside to pick out a Birdday Toy because my parents were still a little annoyed at my Canine Bad Citizen behavior earlier.) The Manchester Dog Park is about 2/3 of the way to its goal and P-Daddy and Mommy made a special trip to give them enough money for a plaque. But P-Daddy only put the human names on the plaque and NO PLAQUE FOR BIGGIE! Harrumph. 

This is going to be a pretty terrific dog run. It's going to be one of the biggest dog runs I have ever seen, and it will have running water and a double gate and grass and gravel and benches to water. Not only that but here in Vermont the Labradudes and Labragals are the little ones, so I will have plenty of big pals to run and play with. 

At the Orvis fundraiser there were free hot dogs - for the people - and lots of dogs. I met Kevin Behan, the Vermont Dog Whisperer, who played with me and fed me treats and pronounced me a "good dog," and I met his dog, Illo, a big German Shepherd who was pretty good to sniff but who didn't really play. Mr. Behan uses some funny terms that I don't really understand to describe how I behave, but his general approach is the same as my Mom's. 

 I also met Brinkley, a sweet golden who pulled a bench over to see me until someone sat on the bench. I collapsed his collapsible water bowl for him and relocated it for him and we had a good time. I also met a crazy hyper yellow Labradude who needed to see the Vermont Dog Whisperer because he was jumping all over the place. He was all like,

 "HihowareyouWannaplayIhavetosniffyouandjumponyoupleasepleaspleaselet'splayNOW!" 

and I was like, 

"Dude.   You must chill.   It is too hot out here to be jumping around like that." 

Now this was really funny because P-Daddy thought he was a puppy and he was FOUR! I'm almost ONE but I was pretty calm. I met lots of people who knew I was a kuvasz, which is really pretty cool. I met a lady who makes these (I tried to climb in one of them) and she is looking for a kuvasz puppy (I wish I'd met her a year ago!) and also some other people who almost got a kuvasz. This was great socialization time and I got to see lots of people who liked me and weren't scared of how big I was. Someday I'll get my Canine Good Citizen, but right now I am steadfastly at Canine Mediocre Citizen. Mommy is thinking she should have gotten me tested before I turned Addled Less Sense.

I also met Tracie Hotchner who wrote The Dog Bible. She was raising money for the dog run, too. They were going to give us a copy of her book for donating money for the run, but we already had it. Unfortunately it was in New York, though, so she couldn't sign it. 

Anyway, if you dogz out there are handy with the computer maybe you can give some of your humans' money to this dog run, and come check it out this summer when it is done. Every little bit of money helps and if you give enough you can get a plaque or a bench with your name on it, and I will pee on it for you if you want. Send your money here: 

Manchester Dog Park
PO Box 568
Manchester Center, VT 05255

or CLICK HERE.

After all the excitement of the morning, we also climbed up half of Stratton Mountain with me on a Flexi-Lead because P-Daddy said something about "burning my bridges" this morning. Which is weird, because I did not see any bridges on my patrol.

Unfortunately I have no pictures because P-Daddy and Mommy were so tired annoyed from our morning chase that they didn't feel like bringing a camera. So I will leave you with some video of me playing water bowl-o in the New York dog run: