New meaning to “The Dog Ate My”…..

I made a play date for William at a local park today. We went and the kids had fun, William enjoyed rolling around in the grass, SAND, mulch and any other soft surface he could find. He found a tree to climb, rolled his ball on the top of the pavilion, and played everywhere BUT the playground equipment.

His friend left and William and I decided to take Bailey to the dog park they put in. This was going to be our first visit to the dog park and William and I were excited. As we walked and got closer and closer Bailey was getting excited too, I think he could smell ALL the other dogs that had been on the trail to get to the park.

The dog park is very nice. It has a big fenced in area, one side for small dogs, and one side for big dogs. I like the way the entrance is set up, you walk into a common area; latch the gate then through another gate to the right for big dogs and to the left for the little dogs. I guess this helps so no dogs are escaping. Personally I think they should have the playgrounds set up like this. That way, especially with toddlers and “runners”, you know your kids are in the area and can’t get out.

As I was walking up it dawned on me that I had a 5 year old with me, a child whose face is at a “big” dogs face level. So I started to rethink what I was going to do. I surveyed the dogs in the park and there were mostly labs (like Bailey) a few smaller dogs, and one BIG dog who looked like the dog from the movie “Turner and Hooch”. (That was the movie with Tom Hanks and the dog that FLUNG its slobber EVERYWHERE). We watched the dogs and everyone seemed to be getting along nicely so I thought we’d try it. I told William he was going to have to stay right with me, and he could not go running and playing with the dogs. This was so hard for him, he just wanted to jump in there and tackle all the dogs to get the balls just like he does with Bailey.

We entered and I let Bailey off his leash, Let the butt sniffing begin! All the dogs said hello to the new comer, in the typical dog way. Bailey returned the sniffs and made some friends, and he was off and running. William and I found a bench and sat down. Some of the other dogs came over to check us out, I kept my arm close to William (in the soccer mom car move), and my eyes on the dogs that were around him.

Most of the dogs left and went to play so I moved my arm away from William a little. I was looking at all the dogs and one came over to us but I thought nothing of it. I looked down at William and saw his shoe was off and he was shaking sand out of it, then his sock came off and he started shaking that to get the sand off. Apparently waving a sock around a group of dogs doesn’t mean, “I’m shaking the sand off my sock” to a dog it means
“LET’S PLAY---GET THAT SOCK!”

Before I knew what happened the “Turner and Hooch” dog had William’s sock in his mouth and was making a break for it. Not thinking AT all, I grab the dog around the neck and put my hand in his mouth trying to get the sock. I had it a few times, but grabbing a sock that is in a dog’s mouth doesn’t mean let go of the sock, it means “SHE WANTS TO PLAY WITH ME”! So the dog starts tugging at the sock, then it dawned on me that I know NOTHING about this dog, so I let go of the sock and the dog and started into a fit of uncontrollable laughter as the “Turner and Hooch” dog and a yellow lab each grabbed an end of William’s sock and started playing tug of war with it.

William’s eyes were as big as they could be watching his sock being used for tug-of-war by these two dogs. I had such a hard time controlling my laughter. It’s a sock, no big deal, I told William to just put his shoe on and he could get a new pair when he got home. He looked at me like I was crazy, he wanted his sock back. I figured there was no hope of that ever happening William didn’t see it that way; it was a vendetta, he was getting that sock back!

We sat there watching the dogs play with the sock, then they got board with it and dropped it. I didn’t realize this but William never took his eyes off that sock. All of a sudden he was off the bench and I was yelling at him “what are you doing” as he was darting into the sea of dogs, he yelled “I’M GETTING MY SOCK BACK!” The dog saw him coming and thought William was coming to play with him grabbed the sock again. William came back to the bench and waited again. At this time an older woman walked up and we started talking, then she looked at her dog and said

Woman: What’s in his mouth?
William: My Sock, he stole it
Woman: What? He stole your sock?
William: YEP
Woman: How did he get your sock?
William: I was getting the sand out of it and he took it.
Woman: I’ll get it back for you.

She walked to the dog and took it from him and gave it back to William. Turns out this dog that was bigger than William is only 6 months old! Just a puppy who wants to play. William and I said thank you as she handed the sock back to me. I figured I would carry it home and trash it. William took the sock out of my hand, took his shoe off and put the sock on and put his shoe back on.

M: What are you doing?
W: I’m putting my sock on
M: It’s all dirty; the dogs had it in the dirt
W: its ok they didn’t get the inside dirty, just the outside.
M: As soon as we get home you take that sock off and put it in the washer, it better not go walking around my house on your foot!

We hung around a few more minutes then headed home, dog eaten sock and all. William listened and took the sock off the second he stepped inside the door. It’s in the washer with the rest of the sock as I type, I can’t wait to see if it came clean or if I will get a good laugh every time I wash socks. I just need to look at in and I’ll burst into laughter thinking about the day the dog stole William’s sock!




"The Sock"