They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this case I think this picture is a way to see the the different personalities of Benjamin, Henry & Luna.
First, we have Henry the adventurer that can't stay out of the pool. Then we have the worriers, Benjamin & Luna, that pace around the pool concerned about their brother. But the real moment of truth is when Henry jumps out of the pool. As you can see, Luna is giving Henry and earful, but Ben is in the back, running as fast as he can because he knows Henry is going to shake. One big shake from Henry will get Benny all wet. And Benjamin's number one rule when swimming is that no one can get wet.
Last night was Bark at the Park night for our local minor league baseball team. We found out about the event a few months ago and have been looking forward to it ever since. Since we had a few months to strategize, we decided to only bring Henry.
We were a family of four pugs, when we first learned of the event and we knew that a baseball game on what would most likely be a warm April night would be too much for Sol to handle. We also felt like Luna would not enjoy going to the game either. With not seeing well, Luna doesn't really like crowds. She much prefers small gatherings. Then we thought about it a little more and we knew that Benny would just be crazy with all the ballpark food around. So we thought it would just be fun to take Henry and Benjamin & Luna could have a fun night at home with Grammy.
And Henry did not disappoint. We arrived a tad early, and while we were getting out of the car, Henry met several "Event Staff" people just arriving for work. We talked for a bit and then they went into the park for work. After a brief wait, the gates to the park opened and we got to go in and check everything out. The first perk of the night was that every dog entering the park received a dog biscuit. That made Henry happy.
We walked along and visited some of the dog related booths and when we got near the concession stand, we heard a group of people calling, "Henry! Henry!" Henry went running over and wouldn't you know, Henry had previously made friends in the parking lot with the most important people at the ballpark - the concession workers.
Feeling like a king, Henry waltzed right over to the concession and stood up at the window, ever so happy to say hello to his new friends.
We finally made our way to our seats and Henry watched the players warm up. There were a few dogs around making a ruckus, but Henry just ignored them. With a full belly courtesy of his new friends, he was on cloud 9 basking in the setting sun on a perfect evening watching some people running around on what looked like some very nice grass.
After a few innings we moved up to the bleachers to get a different view and say hi to some friends. There Henry met a few other dogs and people. We tried to get a picture with the mascot, but as soon as he came near the dogs in our section went into full attack mode. Henry just watched, cocking his head to the side.
After a few more innings, we decided to head home, but not before making one more stop at the concessions so Henry could say good night to his new friends.
The pugs had some fun with bubbles this past weekend. Luna was quite fascinated with them and had the most pop right on her nose because she kept trying to smell them.
Henry didn't seem too enthused by the bubbles. He was more interested in the wand instead.
And Benny, true to form, was terrified of them. Exhibit A below.
Saturday morning, before it got too hot for the pugs, we took them to a nearby school to have some fun on the playground. The boys absolutely love going down the slide. Many people have asked if the boys do this all on their own. I always answer yes, but I thought a picture would be more fun. Here is a shot of Benny getting ready to head down the slide and Henry climbing up the stairs on his way to do the same thing.
And here is one of Benny getting ready to stick the landing.
Luna is not a fan of the slide or climbing up on the jungle gym. This is where her vision troubles really slow her down. Instead she waits for the boys and gives them a good chase once they are back on the ground
This is how you know it is time to leave the dog park. If we stay any longer Henry is going to lay down right there and go to sleep. And Luna, it is rare to ever find that little girl standing still at the dog park. And where is Benny you ask? I'm sure he is off peeing on one last thing before we head to the car to go home.
One thing we got in the habit of doing more with the pugs when Solsey was around was taking all the pugs out with us when we ran errands. At first, it was hard for Benjamin, Henry & Luna to get used to the fact that the car ride was not going to end with them arriving at some spectacular place. When I would drive to a building, punch some buttons on a big machine and then return back home, the fawns would be extremely disappointed. But after some time, they started to figure out the difference between errands and trips to the dog park and other exciting places. So now they aren't as disheartened if they go out and don't actually get to get out of the car.
If we have to actually go in a store for a quick stop, the pugs only get to go if we both are going. That way one of us can wait in the car with them. This works great for the winter & spring months here in FL, but in the summer there is no way the pugs are going to be able to go on these quick little trips. Even with the A/C running in the car, it still gets very hot in the truck if you are just sitting in a parking lot.
So we are trying to make the most of our spring-time errands because I know summer will be here before we even know it.
And look at Baby Benny. All the car rides he has been going on has given him a bit of confidence and he will now stick his head out the window a bit when we are parked. I think he managed to stick a whole inch of his head out the window on this trip.
The pugs were all loaded up in the car and we were on our way to a park, when we decided to make an impromptu visit to the dog beach. The pugs hadn't been to the beach in months so we thought they would like it for a change. The only problem was that it wasn't an ideal beach day. It was cloudy, windy and cold. But we weren't going to let a little thing like the weather stop us. Plus, with the weather not being ideal we thought there was a good chance we would have the dog beach to ourselves and it turns out we were right.
Everyone had a good time except Sol was a bit disappointed. The lovely folks that she coaxed into giving her a hamburger the last time she was there were not at their pavilion. As soon as we passed the spot, she went to look for them. She smelled every inch of the picnic area, but alas they were not there. With no hamburgers, Sol didn't really see the fun of the beach.
