Once we got there, we recognized a couple faces from the last meeting we attended, and we were introduced to the group. Everyone was great-really friendly and nice to us, complimenting and petting Kodo and chatting with us. And all the PUPPIES!! :D Having a fairly uncommon breed makes it such a thrill to see so many of them all in one place. The whole picnic shelter was a sea of gently wagging tails and smiling, panting, tricolor faces.
Once the meeting was over, people started grabbing food and mingling. Brian and I got plates full and sat down to try to eat and juggle the dog at the same time. Kodo, in his usual graceful fashion, managed to plop down his rear right in the biggest, muddiest mud puddle there. He jumps up again right away- apparently his soaking wet muddy tail felt funny to him because he spent the next couple minutes jumping around trying to get away from it. Since it was still firmly attached to his rear, that didn't work so well.... In the process, though, he managed to slap several nice people who had stopped to talk with us with the aforementioned soaking wet muddy tail, and drag it a couple times through both of our plates of food.
We spent the rest of the time circulating, petting other peoples' dogs, and chatting. We met a bunch of girl Berners about a year old who were about the same height at the shoulder as Kodo, and everyone kept saying he was big for his age, so we now have something to compare him to at least. It was funny- we are so used to seeing him looking bigger than all the other dogs around him, but in this company he actually looked like the puppy he is for a change!
Toward the end of the afternoon, we all gathered with puppies near the pond for a group shot. Now trying to get 25-30ish dogs and their people all facing the same direction at the same time and in one frame is quite an undertaking! When this was over, a couple of the dogs decided to go swimming/wading in the shallow end of the pond. Kodo was very curious about this and wandered to the edge of the water. I didn't think about it too much because I have taken him hiking by a lot of ponds and streams on our park walks, and he never showed any inclination to do anything in the water. So I was as surprised as anyone when he decided to jump into the pond. All four feet. With his clothes still on!!! Even funnier though, the second he got in and realized this was COLD! and WET!! he tried to scramble back out as fast as he could. In his typical graceful fashion, tripping and stumbling all the way... :) and of course once he got out he had to hop around like a bunny for a couple seconds like he had scared himself, and shake all the pond water onto all the people and dogs standing around.
That was the end of the excitement for the day- we headed home, plopped him in the bathtub and washed him, then gave him dinner. Then he sprawled out on the floor and was fast asleep almost immediately. I think he had a ton of fun with all the people and puppies today- it has been quite a social weekend for him!
Berner-herd (Kodo is in the foreground of the picture with the bright blue leash):
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