We have been able to take Rio on walks to the park more often since it has cooled off some. Last Sunday morning we took him there and noticed that there was only one other dog in the dog park. He was all the way on the other side of the park and we didn’t think he and his owner looked familiar so we left Rio on his leash until we knew the two dogs would get along. As we got close to them we saw that the new comer was a white English Bulldog. I don’t think I have ever seen a white one before. I know Rio hasn’t because he didn’t know what to think of him. He didn’t look anything like the other dogs that Rio had played with before. He was short, thick, shall we politely say, and wrinkly. The bulldog was friendly…came up and sniffed Rio, but Rio just stood there very stiff, ears back and tail between his legs. Could Rio be prejudice?
They weren’t aggressive with each other, so we took Rio off the leash to let him play. The bulldog wanted to play with Rio, but Rio was still not sure what to think. Every time the bulldog came up to him, Rio ran off. We had never seen him act this way with any other dog. We thought he would get used to him after a little while, but he kept his ears back and tried to stay away. Of course, the bulldog, with his short legs and heavy body, couldn’t run after Rio and keep up. So Rio was able to avoid him easily.
We talked with Pamela, the bulldog’s owner, and found out that his name is Jimmy, also called Beefcake. He is 5 1/2 years old and quite impressive for his breed! He was very friendly… if only Rio could get used to the way he looked. We needed to help him get past his appearance and see that Jimmy was a really nice dog. Jay and I got down on the grass and petted both dogs at the same time. Rio seemed to sense that we liked Jimmy, and after a little bit of attention, he accepted him too.
Then they were off romping and playing just like Rio does with his other buddies. The next time we saw Jimmy at the park, Rio was all excited and ready to play again. It was great to see how they overcame their differences to become good friends.
It was so cute watching them wrestle that we had to take some videos to share. You can watch a clip of their fun below. And you can hear us in the background having fun watching them too.
Man . . . it was SURE fun watching those two go for it this morning!!!
LOVED the video…so very cute the both of them are! Looked like they were wrestling..Jimmy had some good moves but Rio slithered out of his grasp!!