Play date

When we got Tucker, our first CCI puppy, one of the pleasures of the early days was taking him to puppy play sessions up at the Oceanside headquarters. I hated the drive (at least 45 minutes each way, often lengthened by traffic jams), but I did it because watching Tucker romp with the other little ones was such jolly fun.

Somewhere along the line, a decision was made to eliminate the Saturday morning play sessions (for reasons I can't remember). That spared me the commute. But it was a loss. 

So when I got notice that Chris Harrell was organizing a play session for little pups up at the Oceanside campus of MiraCosta College this morning, I wanted to take Dionne. I think of Chris as a puppy master. She's raised 9 dogs, and 4 of them have graduated. She works at the college and can arrange to use one of the playing fields. It's a great place for baby dogs to romp. 

Predictably, Dionne barreled into the action, ecstatic. Someone had brought a yellow stuffed toy, which she appropriated, taunting the other puppies and playing her most favorite game (keep away). She ran and ran and ran and ran. A little wrestling, a little butt-sniffing. A premiere social event! 

Here's a glimpse of what it looked like:

After we'd been there for about 45 minutes, we corralled our charges and formed a big circle in the grass. This is another throwback to the old days. After those Saturday morning play sessions in Oceanside, the puppy-raisers would engage in what always felt a bit to me like group therapy. (Or an AA meeting, someone suggested: "My name is Jeannette and I'm a serial puppy raiser.  I can't help it.")

Circle time

Each person introduced him- or herself and puppy. Most of us had raised at least 4 or 5 dogs. When it was my turn, I confided the recent troubles we were having with Dionne waking up in the middle of the night. I told everyone what Becca had recommended, and I explained that Steve and I went to sleep last night, girding our loins to try her advice to ignore Dionne's whining, at least for a while. And then Dionne confounded us by sleeping till 5:10 this morning. (Steve's reading was that Dionne must have read Becca's e-mail over my shoulder and decided to mess with our minds.)

I also mentioned that we'd been cutting off Dionne's water supply by 7, but one of the other puppy-raisers suggested that was too late. "If she's got lots of opportunities to drink during the day, she'll be fine." Heads nodded. It struck me that last night Dionne didn't drink after 5 p.m. (because we took her to our Friday night movie group.)

Whether that explains why she did better, I don't know. But it felt great to be reassured that Dionne will be fine if she gets her last drink of the day at 5 or 6. Sometimes hanging out with the pack can be not only fun, but educational.