Happy 4th of July!

Lucy helped us place flags out around Stuart's neighborhood this weekend. It was to help the neighborhood celebrate Independence Day and also to market his real-estate business to his neighbors. Lucy happily joined along in the festivities. I drove while Stuart jumped out and placed the flags out. When I needed to park, I parked in the shade to ensure that Lucy & I stayed cool. While parked, I put together the flags, with a note and his business card. I have to say that it didn't seem like much work, but when you actually take on putting out 100+ flags, trust me, it's work.

The highlight for me was when I was parked waiting for Stuart, a group of young kids noticed Lucy. They gathered around and wanted to see her. So I jumped out of the car, and brought Lucy out to meet the kids. There were 3 little girls, ranging in age from 4 - 8 and 2 little boys about the same age range. 1 little blond girl with braids stumbled over to Lucy saying, "pet dog, pet dog..." Lucy happily obliged. I think Lucy tugged at my heart strings when she lay down and happily lapped up all the hugs and attention from the little kids. Lucy, in fact, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. By this time, Stuart had finished placing out the flags in that cul-de-sac and walked over. He told me later I was beaming. I told the kids that Lucy does tricks. Lucy complied with sit and "right paw" and "left paw" but was too distracted to spin or do other tricks. I said to Stuart, "If only we had a hula hoop we could show them how she can jump through it." Just then, 1 of the little girls, not more than 5 or so, raced away down the hill. Just a minute or so later, she reappeared pulling a red plastic cart and a hot pink hula-hoop. "Here," she proudly declared. I thought I was in Heaven! The kids all clamoured over getting to hold up the hula-hoop, so we had to take turns. The girl who brought the hula-hoop went first and I held onto the other side. I was worried that Lucy, given all the distractions and the fact that she was on a leash, wouldn't jump, but I was wrong. Right on cue, Lucy jumped through and back again. The crowd of kids all screamed, "ohhh" and "ahhh" in amazement. Next was the tiny blond girl with braids. She couldn't quite hold up the hula-hoop high enough, so I tried to help, but Lucy had already jumped through and got her back paws caught up in it. She recovered quikcly. Then there was a 3rd attempt, at which point Stuart mentioned that we ought to get going.

I really wanted to take pictures of Lucy with the kids, but I have to agree with Stuart, that that would have been wierd and possibly freaked out the parents. But all in all, at least Lucy got some great kid attention and I got to enjoy the experience too. What is it about kids and dogs? They are such a natural combination and just love eachother. It's so adorable.