Scared puppy at the dog park

DIXIE WAS HAPPIER WHEN THIS WAS TAKEN.

DIXIE HAD A ROUGH day today at the dog park. She got along fine with Daisy and Gracie, two dogs my friend John had at the park. She just laid down and let them sniff her. Then she got up and looked around.

But later when we were in the parking lot she snarled at a dog through the fence. The dog's owner said that his dog was too rough when it played, so it was a good thing I wasn't going to take Dixie in there (he had his dog in the small-dog side).

An older couple went into the big-dog side with two dogs, but we stayed out. Even though those dogs seemed friendly -- one was a basset hound and the other a sheepdog -- Dixie was scared, and it didn't seem worth it.

We'll keep trying. Sometimes she gets along with all of the dogs; today, she didn't.

NOTE: I later realized that Dixie isn't afraid of the dogs she snarls at; she's keeping them away from me. She's either jealous, or she's protecting me. Go figure.

• Woof! (translation: Go away, kid; you bother me)

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• ... said the spider to ...

, • The Dog Diary (2015)

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Good Samaritan

• The PRESS cap and my friend Mike

• Watching TV

• No luck with Billy Sims

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing