dogs at the park

Toward the end of my jog/walk this morning I watched a woman and her dog come upon two women and their three dogs. Since all were off-leash (gasp!), they gamboled around, chasing each other and having a gay old doggy time. A short way down the path I could see a guy with his big German shepherd heading their direction. "They're having a dog tea party over there," I said. He laughed politely. Stretching in the parking lot a few minutes later, I saw him and his dog again. The dog held a small football in its mouth. I said, "Does your dog play with that or just carry it around?" "Oh no," he said, and asked the dog to drop the football. He then threw it and the dog caught it in the air. (Hey, maybe that pup should sign on to the Texans.) As they walked away, he said, "He plays with it constantly all day. Doggy OCD."