After I took a picture of the ash-or-maple tree last Thursday, we went to the dog run. But first we took Alex home; he’s sixteen and doesn’t have any teeth left, and although Topsy protects him he’s very scared of the bigger dogs.
There was only one other dog there when we arrived. It looked like a bear, but it was a sort of doodle, a cross between a labrador and a Lagotto Romagnolo:
The Lagotto Romagnolo is an Italian water dog, and this dog run is by the lake. Topsy loves water too, she just won’t go out of her depth.
We at the dog run have found that for some odd reason dogs like to sidle up to a person before shaking the water off. It only works a couple of times, after that the person knows to run away.
What Topsy loves best is being chased, but doing the chasing is better than nothing.
At times, this dog looks like a wild boar. Apparently his name is Bob, a completely unsuitable name in English. It reminds me of the otherwise really good 1950s movie Bob le flambeur; that Bob ought to have been called something like “Fernand”.
Anyway, this could have gone on all day:
But then another dog appeared, announcing its presence in the same way that Topsy likes to: by pretending, very obviously, to be stalking the others.
It’s all a big ritual; round and round.
This dog was a cross between a collie and something.
All three were as fast as each other; different sizes, but still a perfect match:
At some point, a Cairn terrier arrived. It was much smaller than the others, but very game
and it could keep up:
The terriers, Tops and the Cairn, got a bit…
over excited.
Then they’d all just turn round
and plunge in the lake.
These dogs could have gone on playing for ever. I hope we see them again.
A Bad Guide 
How fun!! Wonderful post, wonderful time!!
Chiqui wants to go next time, he’s a bit tired of the city, you know? The spleen of Buenos Aires…
I’m sure Buenos Aires has lots of interesting smells, though — great pictures. And great shadows too.
Thank you, although those are just testimonial pictures, nothing fancy.
What exactly is a dog run ? Is it the only place (although you live in the country) where they don’t need to be on leads? A bit control-freaky, that.
It’s not to please the people who don’t like dogs. They have to be on leads during the bird-breeding season, so they don’t disturb nesting, and also when there are cattle and sheep around — and goats — that’s through about October. It’s only very local too.
I’ve been very much in favour of keeping them on leads ever since somebody’s loose bloody chow-chow dog murdered my favourite rooster, the irreplaceable Leopold (may he rest in peace), who died protecting the others. He was a wonderful chicken.
It reminded me of the way wee boys like to play, and the foolish female primary school teachers who try to stop them.
There are no primary school teachers at the dog run (to my knowledge), only a postman.
What poor phrasing – mine, I mean. Hey ho. I meant something like “It reminded me of the way wee boys like to play, and made me reflect on the folly of the female primary school teachers who try to stop them.”
Instapundit reports: “DOG PARK LIT BY DOG POOP. “A methane digester called ‘Park Spark’ has been installed in a dog park in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The device produces methane by bacterial digestion of the dog excrement, and the methane is used to light a gas-burning street lamp.”
Could the Crown household perhaps be lit by goat poop?
Those are wonderful ideas. The dog facility, if it wasn’t made by the dogs themselves, may be an idea of empty’s or MMcM’s; they live around there somewhere. MMcM has a dog. Empty only has a cat and squirrels.
I’ll have to think about the goat poop — or basj (bash) as we call it up here. We ought at least to light the goat house with it and if it works out we could maybe have one of those illuminated nighttime downhill ski runs. A ski-lift may require more than three goats. We already heat the goat house solely using that material. When it mixes with the straw on the concrete floor it composts and gives off heat, keeping the whole place warm throughout the winter.
I never heard of this installation in Cambridge, MA, until dearieme told us about it. I can’t tell what park it’s in, or whether it’s functioning already. Maybe I’ll go see it some day.
This reminds me of a story about drains and air vents that needs to be told, but I’ll save it for after work.
I think I would rather say “I had never heard of” it, but I seem to be a lazy American in that regard.
I never heard of (something) until… sounds perfectly fine to me. I think.
It‘s in Pacific Street Park in Cambridgeport.
“I’d never heard of it..” seems the natural use to me. The other American past tense that’s odd to my ear is the “I just did…” one.