F&FFF: Dog Songs

For Feline and Furball with Feathers Friday:

They start pestering me around three or four in the afternoon, sometimes earlier. By 4:30 or 4:45 they're frantic.

Is it time for the dog park?
Are we going?

Dogs don't know from lost jobs and online distractions. They don't even necessarily remember whether they got to the dog park yesterday. They only know that it's where they want to go today, and they won't relax until we've made the trip.

Once we get in the car, there's no guarantee they will go directly where they want to go. Occasionally last fall we stopped off at the Democratic Party HQ first. A month or so ago on a chilly afternoon, I stopped at a 7-11 for hot chocolate. I didn't roll up my window when I got out (I can't open the car door with the window up - the inside handle is broken; plus the window itself isn't working properly). As I was paying, Cayenne turned up at the 7-11 entrance.

To reassure the dogs that they are indeed going directly to the dog park, I've developed the silly habit of singing to them about where they're going. It's not a good or sophisticated song, but the dogs seem to like it, because it has those magic words that tell them we're going to the right place. Pepper climbs into the front seat when she hears it (and sometimes crowds me as I drive, which is not so good). Cayenne sometimes licks my face as I sing.

The main part of the song is as follows:

Dog Park Song

Going to the dog park, dog park, dog park,
Going to the dog park with my dogs.
Going to the dog park, dog park, dog park,
Going to the dog park, dog, dog, dogs.

Going to the dog park with my Pepper,
'Cause it's where my Pepper loves to bark.
Going to the dog park with my Cay-Cay,
'Cause she loves it even when it's dark.

Told you it wasn't very good. It's only doggerel at best. But it's full of the words the dogs want to hear.

I often improvise additional verses about the cross streets and the right turns and the golf course and the joggers as we drive by, but I don't attempt to memorize those parts.

I hope the other driver didn't hear me singing!

After the dog park we go home, of course, but not always directly. Sometimes they have to wait while I buy groceries or Subway, or pick up food at a drive-through. So this week I came up with a second song, mainly for the ride back:

Car Song

The dogs are in the car.
They know where they want to go,
And so to reassure them,
I put on a show.

My song says we are going home,
But no one hears me sing,
Except the dogs, and they don't know
Why I'd do such a thing!

But it's the right time of day,
The sun's gone from the sky,
And if I leave them in the car,
They will surely die!

Now we are almost there;
Our home is up ahead,
And if John's there when we get there,
They may jump on the bed.

And then they'll want their food.
I'll open up a can,
Because I am (and they know this)
My doggies' biggest fan.

And it's the right time of day;
The sun's gone from the sky,
And if they don't get dinner soon,
They will surely die!

It needs a conclusion, but you get the idea. The point is, it's a fun way to manage doggies' expectations and anxieties until they are home and fed, and ready to relax.

Check out Steven's (sometimes)photoblog each week to join in on all the petblogging, and for links to the participants.

Karen