Our canine kids need and love play dates just as much as our human kids. Play dates for our furry friends are a must to curb those unwanted behaviors. My boxer Chantal will be 10 this year. She is a rescue so I’m not sure exactly when her birthday is but we celebrate it in November when I started fostering her. Yes, I am a repeat foster flunkie. Out of the four dogs that we had- now down to two 
, Chantal is our high maintenance child. When she came into our home at the age of 3 (we think), there was no fence tall enough to keep her in the yard. We have a 6ft stockade fence and she had no problem jumping that. We have conservation on the other side and she learned to cut through that and the muck and escape. Two to three walks during the day was not enough for her and I am not one to keep dogs outside unsupervised so she was inside a lot. We tried a runner and she ripped that out, we put a make shift fence near the conservation area and she figured out a way to get out. This little fur baby was determined.
I had no intention of keeping this dog but it had turned out that she was leash aggressive. When she saw other dogs she wanted to go after them but I later found out that it was to play and not hurt them but she didn’t know how to do that. I couldn’t take the chance of a kid walking her and if there was a dog around I think Chantal would have been put down. If she couldn’t get the other dog she would turn on me or my other dogs since I walked all four, but not to bite – just out of frustration. Boy did I need Cesar the Dog Whisperer. Little did I know that he was right in my house – my husband. When hubby came on our walks he could walk by another dog and little miss sassafras behaved like the perfect dog-hmmm, must be just me. She had never learned manners. Chantal came from Puerto Rico where most dogs are kept outside and run the streets whenever they want. Although she did have a family I don’t think it made a difference. The kids loved her and she is fantastic with them but when her young male owner died the family had a tough time handling her. I was working with a great rescue group in Puerto Rico called All Sato Rescue and we brought her in to my local rescue. We nicknamed her Dora because she just kept escaping to seek out new adventures in our neighborhood. Off leash she is great and we realized she just had so much energy to burn. We eventually took her to daycare but that didn’t last long because her first day she learned to climb the chain link fence. Hubby and I were like parents waiting for the daycare to call saying come get your kid. After a few weeks she officially got kicked out of daycare for jumping the fence. Even with other dogs there for her to play with it just wasn’t enough – OY!
So eventually I started having play dates at the house. I would invite anyone who had a friendly dog to come over and play. I even posted ads on craigslist! This was perfect and she got to meet new friends and play and “Dora” didn’t have to escape anymore. I still take her on a few walks a day with my daughter and she still goes nuts when we see other dogs but she is better. When I was pregnant she behaved so well and as crazy as she can be she was the one that laid her head on my belly every single night and has an amazing bond with my daughter. They are the best of friends and Buggy can do anything to her and Chantal lets her. I post a lot of Wordless Wednesday pics of the two of them.
My neighbor has a 6 month old labra doodle puppy that Chantal plays with now. She doesn’t realize that she is not as young as she used to be and after a few hours of playing she just crashes on the couch and daddy has to carry her up the stairs to bed sometimes! She really is a great dog and the biggest love bug. Here are some pictures I took of our play date and one of her crashing on the couch afterwards. She’s one tired fur baby. I love to see my babies – human and fur – happy!
Do you have play dates for your fur babies?
Irene
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