We had some Edda-care on Sunday, so we took Elka to the local dog country club (Bark Social). It’s a paid-entry dog park near the REI/LLBean/Sur La Table/Uniqulo etc. You go there, pay per dog, and they have some bar food that you can order. They have staff monitoring the dogs, picking up poop, making sure the water bowls are filled and breaking up dog fights. I have numerous happy dog park memories with Ruby (illegal and unfenced in the park – Ruby was not a flight risk. It was broken up by the police a few time), Maxi (illegal on old tennis courts with two friends because she was a flight risk (the hound in her!) – and they resurfaced the courts beautifully and really, really banned dogs). Neither place could I really bring Edda, the park because the terrain was uneven and the courts because my playdates were during school hours. So I dream of hanging with Edda and Elka in a safe, comfortable play area, so Bark Social it was. I checked out the ADA accessibility (good), shade (good) and seating (good). Elka was delirious with happiness, honestly, I couldn’t keep track of her because the area was so large and the furniture and people numerous. There were way, way more dogs than I thought there would be, I asked a staff member if this was as crowded as it gets (thinking it was a beautiful holiday weekend at lunchtime) and she said – no! this is calm! It gets much more crowded. I don’t think I’d come on the super crowded days. Jeremy and I ate mediocre, expensive bar food. It was fun.
It’s been fun getting to know Elka. She is so snuggly. Neither Ruby nor Maxi really paid attention to Edda. Scarlett would lick her fingers almost everyday and would be willing to sit at her feet. But we found Elka snuggled next to Edda for a long time yesterday.
Edda did not seem to mind until Elka did this – after a while of the ultimate snuggle, Edda did start to complain and I peeled Elka off of her and made her sit on the couch. It’s fun watching her learn her name and some command and learn that we are her family.
