Remington and his BIG Personality!

[Kendra K. Rhoton]

As many of you know, I'm not a big fan of dog parks because of a bad experience that Dan and I had there with Remington a while back. However, Dan still insists that we go because he says it's good for Remington and you can tell Remington loves it. Well, every time we go I always enter the fence with a bad feeling in my stomach that something is going to happen. Anyways, we went in the middle of the week this week and I found myself quite at ease while I watched my dog and his big personality emerge.

When we walked in, of course Remington was greeted by a crowd of dogs. This use to be a scary experience for him, but this time he welcomed it with open paws. However right away we were concerned with a medium size dog of some kind that started to bully Remington right off the bat. I of course stood there thinking to myself, "O'boy here we go again!" But Remington surprised me. He stood up for himself! In many times past we have had to pull other dogs off him because they would play off his fear and not leave him alone causing him to coward between our legs crying, but this time when that dog would snap and growl at him he would snap right back until the dog would leave him alone. We were really proud of him. GO REMINGTON! I stood back at this point just taking in all that is special about him.

One of the first things that Remington does after he can break away from the herd of dogs is he goes around and greets everyone there. I love watching him do this because I feel like he lights up the faces of just about everyone. He soaks up all the human love he can get and then it is off to play with all the other dogs there. He usually finds a friend or two that he gets along with really well such as labs, golden retrievers, and other doodles and they play for the whole time we are there. This time it was a 9 month old golden retriever and boy was she a beauty. I forgot to mention he has great taste in women :) Even though he is hard at play he always finds the time to come back every few minutes or so to check on his mom and dad and make sure they are okay. I love this about him... and even though he is always quite dirty we give him all the love possible that he can handle and then he is off again to play. He has become a fast runner, but those big paws of his seem to always cause problems as he trips and falls and runs into things on accident. He can give us the best laughs when he does stuff like this. Often times when people call their dogs, it is Remington they get at there feet instead of the dog they thought they would see. His tail and butt wagging so hard it is about to knock him off his feet as he is given love by this perfect stranger. When its time to go all we have to say is "Remington, come on, let's go!" and he is right by Dan's side trotting along happy as can be... DIRTY... but happy :)

We left and I realized as we were putting him in the car that the dog park didn't bother me as much this time and I actually enjoyed myself without worrying about all the other dogs and if Remington would be okay. I feel like as he's matured he has learned to handle himself better and he has a confidence about him as he runs around like he didn't before. He has this happy go lucky personality that becomes contagious to almost everyone he meets... (maybe not my Dad)... but everyone else :) It is times like those when I am with him that makes me appreciate the little things in life. It makes me appreciate my dog and his BIG personality.....

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Glad to hear Remington had a great time at the dog park. We are still very leary of the dog park because of three bad experiences with Hannah and her back being chewed up. Amazing thing about it is, it was caused by two boxers...I never would of thought they could be that aggressive. I also seen a Husky relentlessly pick on another mutt in the dog park and had it not been for a man stopping it..who knows. It made me sick. We are having a Doodle Romp there this Sunday and planned it when the park is not busy with these aggressive dogs. Hope all continues to go well for Remington at the dog park, and you can enjoy the time with him there.

[Kevin Poole, Penny & Ozzy]

Remington was possibly less fearsome because you were calmer too. They can feel the nervousness and tension you feel. Congrats to you all. Glad to hear that Penny is not the only klutz in Doodledom!

[Sandy]

I always get that feeling too, because of a bad incident we had. But, like you guys, my husband strongly believes in going so that Toby can get "bigger" exercise than he gets in the backyard. Toby loves the people, and as he gets older, has learned to differentiate between those dogs he's comfortable with, and the ones he doesn't want to play with. He is good at finding a "safe" place - under a bench, between someone's legs - is he doesn't want to play with a certain dog. It's hard for me to be comfortable with how dogs play sometimes - wrestling, jumping, etc., but I need to let Toby do that too. I'm just an overprotective doodle mom. :)

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Congrats Mom! It is very hard to let them go but Remington proved that he can do it!!

[LuvMyAbby&Kaela]

Remington is awesome. You are very fortunate! Glad he makes life wonderful.