Thursday’s trip to the park was a great success. I thought Silas wasn’t going to get in the car, and then I realized that because I was avoiding saying the word “car” he just didn’t know what I wanted. Once we got that straightened out, he hopped right in. He wasn’t the happiest ever in the car, but not too bad:
Then we got to the park where it was a lovely, if very pollen-y, day. Silas ran around happily, including exercising his great talent for finding baseballs in the weeds. What he wants to do with the baseball is roll around on top of it. What he gets is more like this:
(Yes, our grass is that green. Don’t hate me.)
At roughly the 20 minute mark I spotted a mounted policewoman making her way in our direction. Now, Silas has never seen a horse up close, with or without a person. He is skittish about people doing “weird” things. Given that combination, I feel like the horse thing went pretty well. I walked him directly back to the car (while he tried to drag me to the horse), and just about the time we got to the car he had had enough and started to bark a little. Nothing too crazy, but it was on the edge of escalating. If I’d been able to get to my keys faster, he would probably have been okay. As I pulled out of the parking lot, about ten more mounted police came into view, so I’m thrilled that I got out of there promptly.
Also, I have to include this hilarious outtake from my attempt to get the first picture. We were stopped at a red-light, and I snapped my quick phone photo right as a motorcycle happened to drive by:
It’s a pity it’s blurry and off-centered. I could probably win the internet.
My Imperfect Dog 
Love the photos of him rolling around in the grass, and that expression in the car is priceless! Too funny.
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Haha! That photo is definitely meme-able!
Love the photos of Silas rolling around – so carefree and happy.
Funny – our police are actually called Mounties and I rarely see them on horseback, unless there’s a parade. Our city police do wear cowboy hats, though, so there’s that.
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The baseball-rolling! I love your nutty dog. We are off to the baseball field for some time at liberty this morning.
Ruby is still really wary of my horses. I’m not sure what she’d think if she saw me sitting on one.
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Silas looks like the dog who has just seen the end to “Old Yeller.”
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LOL. That motorcycle was really loud.
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Kaya & Norman love a good roll in the grass too! Kaya often finds tennis balls deep in the woods on our hikes and then she brings it all the back to the car:) We see horses on our hikes and at the beach so Kaya & Norman are now indifferent towards them after being a bit awestruck as pups.
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Really great pics! The baseball thing is hilarious! Emmett used to see police horses in DC all the time and never seemed to even notice them? The first time Lucas saw a horse was a series of unfortunate events, ending with him getting kicked. It sounds like you did the wisest thing!!
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Elka found a partially deflated basketball at the beginning of our walk once. She was SUPER EXCITED and carried it for half a block and then dropped it and it rolled under a car and was gone forever.
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Ahh, the swift exit! My pooch always knows when I’m trying to lead her cunningly away from something I know she’ll react to. There’s no fooling ’em! 🙂
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Deep down, Silas really *wants* to get away, so he’s usually great at leaving. We also did train a quick turn/fast walk away, though.
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Ahahaha – his expression is priceless!
How weird – rolling on baseballs – or at least TRYING to! He’s quite the character! But at least you could tell what he was rolling on. Blueberry rolls around in the grass if she smells something she really likes. We were practicing nose-work in class over the weekend and normally she’s pretty great at that game. But there was something too enticing in the grass and when I said “Find it!” she flopped over on her back and had herself a good roll before continuing on to find the treat.
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