Two of our friends from DC, Erandi and Janaka, visited us last weekend with their Goldendoodle, Luke. Zara has known Luke since he was a small puppy and they have always gotten along well. He is now a year and two months old. They came down midday on Saturday and left Sunday evening.
When they arrived, Zara and I were walking around our apartment complex. As soon as she saw Luke in the parking lot, she went into full wiggle butt mode and started pulling on the leash to get to him. They were so excited to see each other! We hung out in the afternoon at our apartment while Zara and Luke played nonstop with all of Zara’s toys. Zara got a little possessive of her toys a few times and tried to dominate Luke, but for the most part, they got along. She’s always been a sore loser when it comes to games with toys. If she has the ball or toy, everything is fine. If another dog has it, she becomes very whiny and annoyed.
Tug of war
After a few hours of playtime (the pups) and watching the soccer game (the husbands), we headed to dinner in downtown Raleigh. Zara and Luke stayed behind.
On Sunday morning, we headed to a nearby lake trail after a quick breakfast at Rise (tasty biscuits and doughnuts!). We hiked a quiet trail another vizsla owner had showed us a few weeks ago. After about 2 miles, it leads to a little beach area where the pups could go swimming. Zara plunged right in, searching for bugs, but Luke needed a bit of encouraging. I had brought a frisbee for them to fetch and we threw it in the water for Luke. He wasn’t sure how to retrieve it at first and stuck his whole head in the water! After that, he looked like a totally different dog with his wet fur hanging along his face.
Luke retrieving the Frisbee.
We continued throwing the frisbee for him and eventually he got the hang of it. Meanwhile, Zara spent some time energetically digging to China. She’s never allowed to dig anywhere besides the beach, so I think she was excited to have the opportunity to do so.
Zara loved digging and flinging sand everywhere.
After a while, we headed back to the trail and hiked to our car. It was funny to watch how Luke stuck with Zara the whole time. She’s used to hiking off-leash and roams around doing her own thing. Luke is not and he was following her every move. Sometimes Zara would venture off the trail to sniff something and Luke would stay on the trail, looking back at us as if to say, Where is she going? Should I follow?
Having fun in the water
Since Luke has a lot more hair than Zara does, he had to have a bath after the hike and swim. Erandi and Janaka took him to Petco and bathed him in the self-service dog wash. We just toweled Zara off and she was good to go without a wash.
I think they enjoyed playing with each other but I think Princess Zara was also happy to have her house back when they left. :)
