One more puppy park post script post....................

And then I promise to lay off the subject for a while. As I said I planned to, I contacted City hall about joining the parks committee only to find there are no seats vacant at the present time. I ask to have one of the current members contact me and I will give them a few days to do so before figuring out what my next step will be.

What I am really dying to share is about Emma's behavior when we went to the ball field again last evening. A couple of the same dogs from the previous night were already inside. This time I let her sniff from the outside of the fence for a few minutes and then invited her to go inside. After a slight hesitation she ventured on it. Once I closed the gate behind her she changed her mind and wanted back out, but I just dropped her leash and headed away from the fence. After a slight pause she began to follow me until she got into the middle of the in-field where she stopped dead in her tracks and sat down. As a dog would come up to her she would flop over and "play dead." The dog would sniff her belly and then move on. Eventually she made her way to the outfield playing dead each time a dog would approach, not making a sound.

As she was doing this all of the humans were cheering her on and telling her how proud we were of her. At one point, one of the guys caught her attention and she got this very distinct look of "Finally! One of MY kind" and sprinted over to him, sitting between his feet. In about two seconds one of the dogs approached and this time Emma growled and gave him grief. It seems being by a fellow human gave her courage to stand up to the big black furry thing! I have always maintained she doesn't know that she is a dog, but last night was proof positive of the fact. She was emotionally exhausted by the time we got home and slept the rest of the night, but hopefully made some headway in tackling one of her fears. My little girl is growing up.

As I said at the beginning I hope to change topics tomorrow and give you all a break from my parenting woes. Maybe I will share my gardening woes instead. Aren't you excited at that prospect?