Face it; Dogs are just funny

Parker is a sprawler. When he goes to sleep, he starts by lying on his side, but as his sleep deepens, he will slowly roll over onto his back and end up with four legs going in four directions.

When riding in the car, he likes to sit up on a car and look our the (closed) window. (For those who remember my harness problems of a while back, yes, he has learned to hop up onto the seat when I ask so I can fasten his harness.)

Those two characteristics resulted in a bit of silliness yesterday. He had a day at a boarding kennel I've been considering for him. A friend boards her Golden there and recommended it. Missy, the Golden, and Parker have had several play dates and meet regularly when I would take Parker to observe Missy's rally classes. So my friend offered to take Missy to the kennel yesterday so Parker's first visit would involve interaction with a friend. We paid a bit extra so they could have a field trip (a romp in a multi-acre, fenced area of both open field and slightly wooded area). We dropped them off together. Parker seemed hesitant to go with the kennel guy, but when he agreed to take both together, he followed Missy without a qualm. Then my friend and I went off for a day of window shopping and yummy cheesecake (*my* reward for leaving Parker).

When we returned six hours later, Parker was happy to see me, but his tail was up and wagging before he caught sight of me, which was good. I got him into the car and he hopped up onto h is seat, got buckled in, and fell asleep before we left the parking lot. On the ride home, he fell off the seat three times, starting his sprawl, he was just that pooped. Each time he'd get back up onto the seat and slowly fall asleep again and fall off.

I will take him back to that place again in a couple of weeks for an overnight as Mike and I have a trip planned. I have to make sure that they mark his records better, though. When I picked him up and asked how he did, the kennel guy said he was very well behaved except he didn't come when called to get out of the field. Then ended up sending Missy back for him. She brought him back in. I was about to explain that he's still rather shy when the kennel guy said, "I called, 'Tyler! Tyler! Tyler! But he wouldn't even look at me.'" That's when I had to explain that Tyler is *my* name, not his.