sara722003
New member
Dear Newf lovers,
I hope someone here might have some insight on a strange incident yesterday in our mid-town off-leash dog park. We arrived on a glorious afternoon (almost 68 degrees, which is something like 20-25 degrees warmer than we’ve a right to at this late date.) BossMan did his standard patrol of the park, riling at nothing, and taking it none too swiftly. AlleyKat (rescue mutt) was off shoving her nose into everyone’s business and trying hard to stir the pot.
Within a couple of minutes, BossMan locked onto a 2.5 year old great dane. Those two were immediately linked by some cosmic chain. Boss is 3.5 years old, and never much engages in play, certainly rarely tries to romp with other dogs, just wanders about relishing the smells and poking around people more than dogs. He goes home tired, but he shows up tired (such a couch potato that he’s always been!)
Boss and Justin (GD) boxed around and jumped, cheek to cheek, and were obviously having the time of their lives. Justin’s owner whipped out his cell phone and took about 20 photos, exclaiming through the next 45 minutes that his dog had NEVER engaged in play before, he’d never witnessed anything close to what he was seeing. Everyone in the park was laughing and pointing and they were totally engaged in watching these two dickey-do (butts in the air), box, jump, cavort, and spend endless time licking each other in places polite people don’t discuss. Soon BossMan’s head was completely coated in salvia and no telling what else. (joy, oh joy.)
After 20 minutes, with my dog exhausted, I had to leash up Boss to pull him away to another section of the park, where he could try to focus on something else. Boss refused to sit on command, keeping Justin in his eye the entire time. After a 5 minute rest, I took him off-leash and he happily trotted back to Justin. Another 20 minutes later, I resolved we had to leave the park, as Boss’s tongue was getting too red, his eyes were getting red, and his tongue looked like it was swelling (even though we carry gallons of water with us to the park to make sure Boss – and other dogs—have plenty to drink. And believe me, Boss DID DRINK tons while there.) Justin’s Dad got our email and sent us photos last night, and told us he HAD to meet us together in a week at the park, but seriously, I’m almost leary.
Heading back to the gate for our exit, Boss is always compliant and obedient, this time we had to keep our hands on his collar to bring him to the gate, and when we turned to grab our leashes, he immediately turned to run back to Justin. As soon as we got him home, he paced, drank non-stop, paced, finally going downstairs to the cool tile floor of our basement room shower, then back up to pace and drink; it took almost 2 hours for this boy to stop panting. We even took him outside to our back porch tiled floor, which he relishes in the fall and winter, as it is so cold, but we couldn’t get him to settle.
I know this wasn’t a ‘size-related’ issue, as BossMan has played with (‘played’ being a relative term, as it’s mostly sniff and ‘who-cares’ attitude) 5 different Newfs in the last 2.5 weeks at this park, that are as big or much bigger than him. We’ve also had our share of Rotties and GD’s in this park, as well as Pyr’s that are always larger than him. Same ho-hum on his part.
My concern carries through today. He goes outdoors to pee (usually twice every six hours, but since we’ve returned, he tends to pee about 8 -10 times each time outside and we’re taking him out more frequently, to compensate for how often he’s been drinking after this incident). With this increase in drinking and urination, I’m wondering if I should get a vet check. It’s so weird, but it was truly triggered by this incident with the other dog. Tonight, for the first time in almost 30 hours, I’m not seeing him run to his water bowl with the frequency of the last day and a half.
I’ve never seen such behavior in a middle-aged dog. I told my son that you would have thought those two were best buds in another life (although we’re Unitarians, so we don’t get to believe those sci-fi incidents…. ;-) I actually started to wonder if I wasn’t witnessing life at the Rainbow Bridge…..
Without getting too dramatic, can someone explain to me a reason for this incredible behavior? It was not only Boss, but this GD that was, to his owner’s amazement, completely taking him off guard as well.
Does someone have the answer to the mysteries of the universe?
I hope someone here might have some insight on a strange incident yesterday in our mid-town off-leash dog park. We arrived on a glorious afternoon (almost 68 degrees, which is something like 20-25 degrees warmer than we’ve a right to at this late date.) BossMan did his standard patrol of the park, riling at nothing, and taking it none too swiftly. AlleyKat (rescue mutt) was off shoving her nose into everyone’s business and trying hard to stir the pot.
Within a couple of minutes, BossMan locked onto a 2.5 year old great dane. Those two were immediately linked by some cosmic chain. Boss is 3.5 years old, and never much engages in play, certainly rarely tries to romp with other dogs, just wanders about relishing the smells and poking around people more than dogs. He goes home tired, but he shows up tired (such a couch potato that he’s always been!)
Boss and Justin (GD) boxed around and jumped, cheek to cheek, and were obviously having the time of their lives. Justin’s owner whipped out his cell phone and took about 20 photos, exclaiming through the next 45 minutes that his dog had NEVER engaged in play before, he’d never witnessed anything close to what he was seeing. Everyone in the park was laughing and pointing and they were totally engaged in watching these two dickey-do (butts in the air), box, jump, cavort, and spend endless time licking each other in places polite people don’t discuss. Soon BossMan’s head was completely coated in salvia and no telling what else. (joy, oh joy.)
After 20 minutes, with my dog exhausted, I had to leash up Boss to pull him away to another section of the park, where he could try to focus on something else. Boss refused to sit on command, keeping Justin in his eye the entire time. After a 5 minute rest, I took him off-leash and he happily trotted back to Justin. Another 20 minutes later, I resolved we had to leave the park, as Boss’s tongue was getting too red, his eyes were getting red, and his tongue looked like it was swelling (even though we carry gallons of water with us to the park to make sure Boss – and other dogs—have plenty to drink. And believe me, Boss DID DRINK tons while there.) Justin’s Dad got our email and sent us photos last night, and told us he HAD to meet us together in a week at the park, but seriously, I’m almost leary.
Heading back to the gate for our exit, Boss is always compliant and obedient, this time we had to keep our hands on his collar to bring him to the gate, and when we turned to grab our leashes, he immediately turned to run back to Justin. As soon as we got him home, he paced, drank non-stop, paced, finally going downstairs to the cool tile floor of our basement room shower, then back up to pace and drink; it took almost 2 hours for this boy to stop panting. We even took him outside to our back porch tiled floor, which he relishes in the fall and winter, as it is so cold, but we couldn’t get him to settle.
I know this wasn’t a ‘size-related’ issue, as BossMan has played with (‘played’ being a relative term, as it’s mostly sniff and ‘who-cares’ attitude) 5 different Newfs in the last 2.5 weeks at this park, that are as big or much bigger than him. We’ve also had our share of Rotties and GD’s in this park, as well as Pyr’s that are always larger than him. Same ho-hum on his part.
My concern carries through today. He goes outdoors to pee (usually twice every six hours, but since we’ve returned, he tends to pee about 8 -10 times each time outside and we’re taking him out more frequently, to compensate for how often he’s been drinking after this incident). With this increase in drinking and urination, I’m wondering if I should get a vet check. It’s so weird, but it was truly triggered by this incident with the other dog. Tonight, for the first time in almost 30 hours, I’m not seeing him run to his water bowl with the frequency of the last day and a half.
I’ve never seen such behavior in a middle-aged dog. I told my son that you would have thought those two were best buds in another life (although we’re Unitarians, so we don’t get to believe those sci-fi incidents…. ;-) I actually started to wonder if I wasn’t witnessing life at the Rainbow Bridge…..
Without getting too dramatic, can someone explain to me a reason for this incredible behavior? It was not only Boss, but this GD that was, to his owner’s amazement, completely taking him off guard as well.
Does someone have the answer to the mysteries of the universe?
