Suzy Chapstick

Or, Who Says Dogs Don't Care About Moist Lips?

Yesterday at the doggie park, Belly was being sooo good. See, the doggie park isn't an official doggie park. The land is owned by ISU and they use it for athletic team practices on a few afternoons a week, but it gets the most use by dogs. Well, yesterday the larger gate was locked open because ISU vehicles had obviously come and gone the day before, but I took a chance anyway and let her run around, hoping that she'd become so used to being imprisoned that she wouldn't notice the huge truck gate wide open. I even took her in the people gate to reinforce that that's the way in and out. She did good.

Except. Apparently while running around and sniffing things, she decided her lips were chapped. She found an old chapstick and chomped on it and protected it like it was her newborn puppy. I couldn't get anywhere near her, the little shit. I finally got most of it when her attention was drawn to the new dog arriving at the park. And here's a funny thing: every single person who came tried to close the gate, even though there were five or six adults with their dogs who, one could assume, had already assessed the situation. One woman checked it even after she watched a perfectly capable woman try it herself. It was quite the mini study in psychology.

Nickname number 457: Suzy Chapstick.