oh Bruno

See what happens when I don't make myself blog every day? I forget all about the good stuff.
Bryan and Steph came over yesterday and brought Bruno so we could take the doggles to the park. I decided on the rabbit park (aka Pepperbrook Park) which is fenced on three sides with the field well away from the picnic area and the playground. Bryan and I took a short cut to the field through the fence, Steph and the girls took the stroller the rest of the way around the block to the front of the park.

Bryan is always really attentive about our surroundings, whether it's with the girls or the dogs, he always knows what possible threats are around. We passed by a dog bowl and a bottle of water near the back of the park, so we knew there was another dog around. After we let the dogs off the leashes, we spotted the other dog across the park with its owner, also off leash. So Buddy and Bruno played, ran, chased each other and looked so cute with their Boxer coloring. We stopped to rest (Steph and the girls still weren't around to the front of the park, Steph said they had to stop and tie someone's shoe) and both dogs were laying down when suddenly the Other Dog (a yellow lab that couldn't have been more than a year old) was running across the field at us. I quickly hooked Buddy's leash to his harness and Bruno was still laying down but fixed on the other dog. Then the OD was right on us, hackles and tail raised. No manners at all. His female owner was still meandering around on the other side of the park. Not even two seconds passed when Bruno was on top of the OD and a whirling dervish dog fight ensued. I had to hold Buddy's collar with two hands and all my strength because he wanted to join in so bad. Yipping at the top of his voice. Meanwhile, Bruno and the OD are still going at it and Bryan is doing everything he can to stop it but without a stick or another person, it took what seemed like forever (but was actually probably only 5 seconds) before he was able to scoop Bruno up. The OD's owner finally got her butt in gear and came to attempt to control her dog, then high tailed it out of there, which was fabulous because Bryan had blood on his hand but Bruno wasn't bleeding. HA!

I would never call Bruno an aggressive dog. I trust him implicitly around my children. He's just super-duper protective, and isn't that why we have dogs in the first place? Around here, people don't have control over their dogs. They shit everywhere and are never picked up after and there is an appalling number of lost posters for these pocket chihuahuas and yorkies and pomeranians. I'm tired of seeing them running around off leash and then squished in the street the next day. It's infuriating.

Steph and the girls missed the whole thing, thank heavens. Steph would have cried for sure, Bryan said, and I'm sure the girls would have been terrified. We finished playing ball after we noticed that Buddy is lame in his back left leg, the same one he injured when he was 4 months old. When we walked past all the vatos having a birthday party they all made murmured approval at the pretty dogs. I had to laugh. :)

Bruno is still WonderDog and my favorite Boxer ever.