First time visits to dog parks

About two weeks ago, Mochi got his last booster shot, so he was finally cleared to go out in public and play with other dogs. Well, he had played with his cousins before that, but since they're all vaccinated, the vet said that that interaction was ok. The weekend after his booster, we took Mochi to two dog parks - one in San Jose, and the other closer to home.

San Jose

Before I talk about the SJ dog park experience, I should give a little background: Mochi and cousin Joey have played well together ever since they met. This despite the fact that Joey is about 45 lbs to Mochi's 10-11. Joey is very patient with Mochi, and even assumes the submissive role to him, despite the weight and height difference:



At the SJ dog park, we initially put Mochi in the "small dog" area and put Joey in the "big dog" area. Mochi was content to sniff around, and didn't play much with the other small dogs. Joey, meanwhile, hung out at the fence between the two areas, trying to figure out why her buddy wasn't with her. :(

So we then brought Mochi into the big dog pen, and initially, he had the same behavior - sniffing around and generally ignoring other dogs. Joey tried to get him to play, but he didn't seem interested. After about 10 or 15 minutes of investigating, Mochi began to get in a playful mood. He started chasing and being chased by bigger dogs. He remained brave throughout, though we did "rescue" him a couple times when too many dogs were nipping at him.

I would post pictures here, but we forgot our camera. :P

Home park:

Mochi pretty much acted the same way as in San Jose. He didn't participate in very many chases, but he did hold his own with the mostly bigger dog crowd. We remembered the camera this time, but since he was moving around so much, Tracy only managed to get one picture of him with Theo, a German Shepherd. Theo, like Mochi's cousin Jax, didn't realize how big he was compared to Mochi, and therefore didn't understand why Mochi steered clear of him. :)



I'm still not sure if that's a look of terror, excitement, or some other mix. :) At the end of the day, Mochi was dog tired. Good times were had by all.