Eeyore's Birthday Party!

Zeke is such a fun dog to work with. (Sandy, close this browser now.) He still has some growing up to do. (Sandy, really, close the browser) I think some of the problems will get worked out in his head when he is older. I took him to Eeyore's Picnic at Pease Park on Saturday, and it was a near disaster. Too much Tigger energy. Zeke was very pulley and high strung about all the dogs and loud P.A. and rock bands. I removed the vest...sort of had a bad feeling about the situation. I wanted to leave, but had to pee too bad, so I headed for "potty row." The potties were far from the bus stop, so it took some work to get there. We waited in line for a handicap accessible potty for 45 minutes (almost no waiting at the regular potties). During the wait, Zeke got relaxed. I was feeling more confident, so I headed deeper into the festival. We did some “leave it” work by the basketball court. Zeke gave in and settled once again. We went on toward a field where I hoped to find a place to "busy" Zeke. He seemed to be enjoying himself at first, but then he got scared of a woman in a costume. She had a chicken head and feathers tied to her ass. He was very confused...almost took a bite at the feathers. Then the drums started nearby and there was a bad, smelly rag in a bucket on a stroller going by and so he started running backwards, pulling hard to escape, crashed into a woman sitting on a picnic blanket, did some sort of a mid air twist and completely broke free from me. If I had hung on, I might have caused injury to the woman that was sort of under him at that point. He took off running through the crowd. I gave chase. Lost sight of him for about 30 seconds when I found him wrestling with a pack of strong, shirtless men over a big red Frisbee. It took them long enough to make Zeke lose his grip that I was able to grab the leash. Of course when they threw the Frisbee, I lost Zeke again. He got the Frisbee again. By now, the big, shirtless menwere really annoyed with me and my lack of control over my dog. I really was trying to get him away from there, but I was just beat. I finally got him headed in the right direction and seemed to have control, when the red Frisbee landed right between his front feet. That was not my fault, but the fight began again. I was having Frankie flashbacks. I managed to get Zeke over to the shade and park him in "down." We rested and drank water next to where the horses were tied up. There was also a uniformed police officer standing there. Zeke settled down and I rested my hands. After half an hour or so, we started back toward the shuttle buses. He really had lost his mind by that point. I installed a little power steering and just choke held him all the way to the bus.. We were turned away from two busses that were handicap accessible...both Durham drivers said no dogs...no dogs of any kind. Don’t care what kind of dog, no dogs. They both said I had to take the regular type bus because special needs kids used these buses and they might have allergies to dogs. (Never mind that they may have their own assistance dogs) I was not going to win the argument, so I just took the regular bus. The ride back to the garage was perfectly pleasant although Zeke was squished. He was not bothered by it at all. Just happy to leave the weird scary people that don't want to share toys. (sorry no photos of this training walk)