Four Parts Salt, One Part Pepper, Five Excited Dogs

You will have to excuse us down here in South Florida.   We may be a little cranky.   If so, it's because we may have a little extra moss growing on our North Sides.  It's been a long weekend, if not a solid week of some very heavy rains that got in the way of our usual outdoor plans.

When your house has "outdoor rooms" you get a little claustrophobic when you can't use them.

The rains would let up just long enough to get out, inspect things, pick up others, and get back under cover before the next rain would start. 

Even the Dog Walk Hour would get truncated to fit between thunderstorms and general weather yuck.  When it would let up, I'd grab my nearest computer and check radar.   If there was a gap coming up within the next half hour, I'd be making my plans to run out the door with Rack the Dog in tow and do a quick lap around town.

I know I wasn't the only one doing that because the neighborhood was chock full of people who I know by the dogs being walked first. 

Rounding the corner, I spotted the twin white German Shepherd Dogs, and the couple walking them.  Being abysmal with names, I didn't know them that well, but I do know the dogs, and they did like Rack.  Rack spotted them and began pretending he was a Kangaroo. 

Leaping into the air and yipping with joy, my black and white puppy was shoulder high with excitement.

We all met up at the corner, two white German Shepherds, my black and white McNab, and paws and puppy play all around.  Rack making a racket, yipping, the German Shepherds rolling in the wet grass and reaching out with paw to play.  

A pause in the action happened when Rack spotted The Girls.   The Girls are sister Samoyeds, giant puffs of white fur, just past puppy-hood themselves.  I knew at this point it was going to be chaos.

The Girls, since that is how the neighborhood seems to refer to them, were straining at the leash to get to the party, Rack wagging his black and white tail and slapping the two German Shepherds in the face with it.  

I made sure there was a strong grip on the leash, the German Shepherds' owners were laughing at the scene as their two dogs stood up.

At that point it was a bit of a blur.  Four large white dogs were wrestling on the ground, leashes tangling, with my own black and white Rack weaving among the pile.   It looked like someone tossed a bit of pepper with the salt, a giant pile of canine excitement.   Any hope of control that the humans had at that point went right out the window, and there was puppy joy for all, even those dogs who were past that sort of thing themselves.

Four female dogs, and my male rumbling around in the grass, you know there was going to be a favorite somewhere.   Fiona, the Samoyed and Rack the McNab were the couple.  The German Shepherds realized they were the odd dogs out and slowly unraveled themselves from the writhing mass of fur, owners backing off and saying it was time to look into dinner.

Rack was climbing on top of Fiona who was laying flat on the ground.   Happy sounds muffled by Fiona's paw in his mouth, Rack was using this much larger dog as a chew toy while sister Olivia was howling in amusement.

Long lost furry friends, out on a grey evening between passing showers, greeting each other in a pile.

Just as with children, the excitement peaks then wanes.   Something was on the air and all the dogs sensed it.   Their owner, Jim took this as an excuse to say his goodbyes, and we were all on our way. 

April Showers may bring May Flowers, but July Showers bring puppy piles of returning joy.