Do you know what Kirby loves?

Can you guess?

If you guessed the dog park.... you're right! Kirby LOVES the dog park. He would live there if we let him.

I know lots of people have concerns about off leash dog parks, and really, I did too before we started going to nearby Candlelight Park. We've been there almost every night this week (and many, many times before that, too) and we see the same people, and the same dogs, and everyone is responsible... it's just a really great atmosphere. Kirby is making friends. You can tell they're his friends because they're the ones that play with him regularly, and they're the ones that protect him when big dogs get too close. By protect, I mean bark a few times, and then nudge Kirby away. It's crazy how similar groups of dogs can be to children... or at least it seems that way! Kirby even has some dogs that don't like him, for one reason or another. We're pretty good at avoiding those guys.

The neat part is that Kirby is learning lots of new things... like how to share, and how to take turns. See, look!

Kirby takes his turn chasing the big boys....

Then the big boys take a turn chasing him!

(Don't worry, Kirby likes it when they do this! He BEGS them to chase)

Kirby also is improving his recall and practicing other skills like sit/down stay with distractions, as well as focusing on what we want him to do- retrieve the ball! Here's one I got right before Stan was about to toss it. He has pretty good focus, and he's improving every day!

Throw it.... c'mon!

We love the park!