Don't Make Me Use My Teacher Voice

It was beautiful here today. Mostly warm, light breeze and hardly a cloud in the sky. So I decided to take Guinness for an extra long walk today. We went most of the way through Military Park and then cut over into Country Park. We strolled through there for a ways and stopped off in the Bark Park. For the first time. Now..I have been warned about the Bark Park. Warned that some people bring their aggressive dogs even though they shouldn't. I decided to check it out and that I would intervene if I had to. Three seconds in to the experience..I'm trying to get Guinness to drink some water at the fountain and he's being Mr. Picky and wouldn't have anything to do with it. Then here come the other dogs to greet Guinness. One of them was really obnoxious and decided to grab him and pin him down and then ROLL him in the mud. I was like OMG when I saw the mud on him. I also thought he seemed a little freaked out by that particular dog so I decided to keep an eye on him. Guinness enjoyed himself while I chatted with a couple of people there and while a really cute boxer came over and loved on me. Unfortunately..here came the obnoxious dog again. This was the only dog that Guinness interacted with that made him yelp. At this point I went over to separate them and to call it a day. Guinness was COVERED in mud! His owner only said to her dog "Thats the second white dog we've run off today." Um..I'm sorry but is that something to gloat about or even to be okay with?? Maybe she'd like to pay for the bath that Guinness was definitely gonna have to have after that. Ugh!
So we walked back to the car and at that point poor Guinness was exhausted. When I gave him his water from my water bottle he layed down to drink it haha. Poor dog! He was ABSOLUTELY covered in mud and dirt. He looked like PigPen from Charlie Brown. As soon as we got home I called PetSmart to see if I could fit him in for an "emergency" bath. Unfortunately they wouldn't take him because he's now turned 4 months and we haven't gotten his rabies shot. Money is kind of tight right now since Bob is supporting both of us until I can find a teaching job. So he was trying to shop around even though I explained to him this could happen.
I ended up having to go to Petsmart and get shampoo and conditioning treatment so that i could bathe him at home. Ohhhh my goodness. I have NEVER bathed a dog in my entire life! What a riot! I ended up getting into a bathing suit and basketball shorts and putting him in our walk in shower with me. I thought he was going to hate it and go nuts or bite me or something. Um...no. Not my little weirdo. He freaking LOVED every minute of it! He pranced around and then he would snap at the water from the showerhead. I got him clean and towel dried and decided I'd try to blow dry him. I know a lot of dogs hate this and are freaked out by the sound. Again, not the case with Guinness. He literally climbed into my lap while I blow dried him. I never know what to expect from him.

So tonight he's totally zonked out after the long walk and it has been very quiet and peaceful around here. He's relaxed, he's fluffy, and he no longer looks like a mud monster. What a day!

*Note: Pic is not of Guinness. Only after I blow dried him did I realize that I should have taken muddy pics, wet rat pics, and fluffy "after" pics. DOH! Regardless..the pup in the pic looks EXACTLY like he did after the Bark Park!