Day 277

It's become kind of a tradition in Dallas that on the last day of the season, the water parks in the area welcome dogs for the day. We've never taken Dot and Dash to one of these events before, since they don't seem to like water, but we thought we'd give it a try this year. The Hawaiian Falls park in Garland isn't that far from us and today's event was a benefit for local rescue groups. When we arrived, there were several hundred happy wet dogs splashing around in the water. Much to our surprise, it only took a few minutes for our own dogs to joint them. Dash seemed to like the wave pool the best and exuberantly jumped through the waves to chase tennis balls. It was hard to believe that this was the same dog who makes such a fuss every time we try to give him a bath. Dot was a little more sedate than Dash, but even she was bold enough to get out in the deeper water and swim. What Dot liked best was floating down the lazy river in a tube. Live and learn, I guess. I didn't think that either dog would even put their paws in the water, but they were having just as much fun as the Labs and Golden Retrievers. It's too bad the water parks only do this once a year.

It was also a bit surprising that in a city of over a million people, we always seem to run into someone who already knows Dot and Dash. Today, six different people recognized the dogs and came over to say hello. I'm almost certain that if we didn't have the dogs with us nobody would have recognized Janet and I. I'll have to admit that the dog do get around. They have their friends from the neighborhood, friends that they met at the Unleashed indoor dog park and even more friends from the Wednesday training class. Dot was a little shy when we first got her, but now she's quite the diva. She seems disappointed if people don't gather around to pet her and say how pretty she is.

Once we got the dogs back home and the car dried out, the weekend quickly reverted to the normal routine of household chores and shopping errands. I don't think we'll have to give the dogs a bath tomorrow. After two hours in the water, they both look pretty clean.

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