Best in Show

You know how everyone thinks their dog (or their kid) is the most beautiful in the world? Turns out, mine really is!

It’s actually a bit embarrassing. This must be how Brad Pitt’s girlfriend must feel. Except not, because she’s Angelina Jolie and not too shabby herself.

I took Isis to the dog park for the first time today. I haven’t taken her before, because she’s not all that reliable when it comes to returning to me. A lot of dog parks around here aren’t actually fenced, and I’m afraid of her getting away. Not that she wouldn’t come back, but who wants to wait for her to be good and ready…or for her to get hit by a car.

We had a positive off-leash experience at dog class last week, and today was so lovely I wanted to take her somewhere more special than the woodsy trail near our house. (Yes, even lovely woods can get old.) After getting lost bigtime (I don’t want to talk about it), we arrived at a fenced dog park near a lake about 10 minutes from our house. It only took an hour to get there.

I just wanted her to run around with some other dogs. I wasn’t fishing for compliments or expecting every owner in the place to ooh and ahh at my dog. Seriously. We just want to live normal lives. We’re just like everyone else. Except spectacularly beautiful.

“Where’d you get your German shepherd?”
“She’s a beautiful German shepherd.”
“Honey, did you see the German shepherd?”

And these are people who can tell the difference between an American German shepherd and and Eastern European German shepherd. That last comment was followed by a whole discussion, as if we weren’t standing right there, about how hideous, slope-backed and scrawny American-bred German shepherds are.

The folks were also huge fans of her little beaded necklace, which we won in a drawing for getting spayed in February–National Spay Month.

Most of the other dogs were your bossy little terriers or sweet-tempered pit bull terriers. Isis played very well with them, and none of them attacked her for being so much more beautiful than they are. Guess they were just in awe.

Can you even believe I don’t have a picture to post of the event. I know, right?