Friday, August 26, 2011

Enjoying some sprinklers!

Some of you may remember me mentioning a few weeks ago that Koira, while enthusiastic about ponds, pools, and rivers, dislikes hoses and sprinklers. That used to be true.

Early this week, I stopped by the park with the dogs in the late afternoon. We walked for a bit, I picked and ate some ripe blackberries off the vine, and then we ran into an old friend of ours, Lakshmi. Lakshmi is a super friendly mixed breed female dog. We normally see her in the winter, when the playing fields are a large off leash area. This time, however, Lakshmi was playing not with other dogs but with the large sprinklers watering the soccer fields.

I wandered over with Koira in the hopes that Lakshmi could teach her how much fun sprinklers are. It was really hot out, the dogs needed to cool down, and I didn't feel like walking halfway across the park to get down to the river, where the dogs would end up not just wet but sandy and muddy as well.

Koira watched Lakshmi for a while, frogged out in the grass panting. After a while, I got up and wandered closer, encouraging Koira to come along. She was obviously interested in this strange game. Hesitant at first whenever the water hit her, Koira watched her friend playing and gingerly tried it out herself.

By the time we left the park, Koira was confidently playing in the sprinklers alongside Lakshmi.

She enjoyed it so much, I returned there last night when our flyball class was canceled due to the heat. Lakshmi's owner had let me know the sprinklers came on at 7:30 every night. (Which brings me to an apology for the amount of noise in this pictures, due to the low lighting of shooting in the evening. But they were cute despite the low quality, so I had to share anyway.)


Koira sized up her opponent.

. Then, with a little encouragement, she went to town on it!

Pallo was a bit less than thrilled at the sprinklers though.


Koira did a full frontal attack, taking a shot in the mouth.

The spray was hard, but she was determined.


SHE WOULD WIN!

A brief break, to reassess the situation and take a fast breather.

Then another attack!

This sideways-bite seemed the most effective for preventing water from getting up her nose.


Pallo watched from the background, baffled at this strange obsession.


The spray of water was mocking her, so she mocked it right back

So she pulled out her pearly whites and showed it some business!

Koira ended up totally soaked and tired by the time we headed back to the car. It was a great way to cool down from a super hot week, and she had a blast. Poor Pallo was a little offended at this very unexciting trip to the park, however.

I love how dogs learn from each other. A week ago, Koira would have gone no where near the sprinklers, and in fact would have avoided them at all costs. But just sitting and watching another dog playing and finding them fun, and now she has a new favorite game. Maybe Pallo will learn it from her?

Now its time for a blog hop!

15 comments:

  1. That is some really cute photos. The dogs are having a blast out there.
    Cher Sunray Gardens
    Goldenray Yorkies

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  2. Great phots, I would love to see a video of that. I wish I was there so Koira could teach me the finer techniques of sprinkler attack.

    I have yet to meet a sprinkler but they look like great playmates.

    Especially because they work such majic with water.....

    Bert

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  3. There's nothing like a good sprinkler fight. Whenever I bring the dogs somewhere without water to swim in, I make sure to turn the sprinkler on when we get home. Parker has never been interested, but Sinatra learned how to attack the water after watching Skye for all of a minute. Gotta love dogs!

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  4. Hi Y'all!

    Gee, I just walk the our sprinklers and ignore them...what have I been missing?

    Y'all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

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  5. Ha. Way to go Koira!!

    I have been wishing with all my heart that Elli will learn to swim via one of her best friends. Alas, it is not to be.

    Yet. It must* happen!

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  6. Nice pictures! Koira and Pallo are realy enjoying themselves. We have to get a sprinkler too, looks like a lot of fun.

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  7. Looks like a great way to beat the heat! Glad you had fun!

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  8. You obviously all had loads of fun & got some nice pics :-)

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  9. Looks like great fun!

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  10. Have you done a post on what makes a good flyball dog? Or how to start training?

    I would love to read them, if you have!

    There is a training center an hour and 1/2 from us that has flyball training - I'm very curious to see what it is like.

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  11. The photos don't seem all that noisy to me - they look good!

    Koira is so funny.

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  12. These are awesome photos! It's lovely to watch your dogs enjoy something like this, isn't it:) Even better when they've only just found out how much fun it is. I wish Frankie and Beryl liked hoses and sprinklers. They're only into the river and sea.

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  13. awesome shots! what a goof that Koira is!

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  14. Great pictures and it looks like so much fun!

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  15. Oh, although your pictures are of low quality, it is great that your pictures were action shots and are not boring at all. The dogs absolutely have fun and there's a great thing to learn from them: have fun and never surrender. LOL!

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