Woofstock 2007: (L) The crowds along Front Street. (R) Laura and Photon.
On Saturday all four of us went down to Front Street near the St. Lawrence Market to experience Woofstock, a weekend street festival for dogs and their owners. The event is huge; thousands of people and their pooches strolled the streets and checked out the doggie wares being hawked. We picked up some treats and toys at discounted prices, and got lots of nice freebies from various vendors (all sorts of treats, zippered carrying bag, nylon leash, magazine).

Photon and Jon both behaved magnificently and neither got freaked by the crush of people and the multitude of dogs. We left after about two hours when the crowds were getting noticeably larger, so we missed the stupid dog tricks contest and the beauty contest. Apparently this festival has been happening for several years, but of course if you don’t have a dog you are totally unaware of its existence!

Photon and Laura with our course completion certificate.

Tonight we finished our second obedience training course at Who’s Walking Who with a round of doggy games: relay races (dog has to come and then sit on command before a teammate can go); musical mats (dog heels with owner; when music is turned off, dog has to get to a mat and lie down for a set length of time.) Peter and Jon came to this class to watch and cheer us on and fun times were had by all.

We’ll definitely be taking an intermediate course in the fall because it’s fun and can lead to other interesting dog activities such as agility or rally obedience. I don’t think I’ll be going into canine freestyle (aka dancing with dogs); champion dogs in this sport are jaw-droppingly talented, but there is something inherently cheesy about doing dance routines to songs from Grease, or dressing up like Russian Cossacks. I like to think my dog has some dignity!

Photon just came back safe and sound from an overnight stay at the vet’s for her spay, with a dainty little scar and a huge shaved patch on her belly. (Sister Cobalt’s spay is today.) Now we can breathe a sigh of relief; she was suddenly getting humped by a few more dogs than we were entirely comfortable with. (I realize humping is usually more a dominance thing than a breeding thing, especially now that she’s not a little puppy any more, but we were getting a little nervous that her hormones were starting to kick in. Especially since early heat isn’t unheard of, hey Teagan?)

Surprisingly, she came back not a cone-head. She doesn’t seem to be licking the wound too much, so hopefully we won’t need one. However, we have to keep her on a short leash for five days. No runs in the park with the other doggies. No vigorous exercise (and what other kind is there for a dog?) A tired puppy’s a happy puppy, remember? She’s going to be a wound-up terror around the house for the next few days.

We have a ballsy little pup. During the recent big thunderstorm, the one that did this, Photon sat at the back screen door, relaxed, watching the rain pour and the lightning flash and looking up during massive thunderclaps to try and figure out where the speakers were mounted.