Moose

Monday, December 14, 2009

This past Sunday, my mom and I brought Moose to a dog park for the first time in his life. Seeing as how his canine-interactions are limited to those between him and my cousin's dog (who Moose completely and totally dominates/humps all the time), this was a kind of an awkward and eye-opening experience for everyone. Upon entering the park, it felt like a scene taken straight out of the dog WEEEEsperer...you know, where Cesar throws that poorly-socialized/dominant dog into his pack's pen, all the well-behaved dogs come up and sniff the new guy, and the look on the problem-dog's face (as he's getting sniffed and violated) just screams, "WTF IS HAPPENING". Yeah, that was totally Moose. He had never been around so many other dogs in his entire life and was clearly freakin out a bit. It was sorta cute watching all the other small dogs come up and sniff him out, and I felt like one of those over-protective mama's dropping their kid off to pre-school and just wanting to babysit him and make sure he gets along well with the other kids. But observing him from a distance, I quickly realized how socially awkward Moose truly is. First thought: hey, kinda like me. Second thought: damn. Instead of chasing tennis balls or playing tag and running around, Moose just wanted to find something to mount. One track mind for 40 minutes straight. That sort of behavior is definitely shunned upon at the dog park....because when it happens, all the dog owners standing around are clearly appalled. Before Sunday, I thought I had a pretty decent dog. But bringing him to that dog park just unveiled a whole host of behavioral/social problems.....which translates into one thing: I'm not watching enough Dog Whisperer. So I am resolved to bring Moose to the dog park more often with hopes that he will eventually stop being such a domineering pervert and that we won't come across anymore unfixed females.