Dear Journal...

Bloc Party

Every Summer my fiance and I go to Saturday night bloc parties in Downtown Hampton. They start sometime in April and stop a week or two into September. Every Saturday night the bloc party is from 6:00PM to 10:30PM. There is live music, dancing, alcohol, it’s pet friendly, and there is a alcohol-free children’s zone. The street, Queens Way, is in the heart of Downtown and is lined by stores, restaurants, and bars. Marker 20 is one of the popular hangouts for late-night party-goers. 

I have always wanted to bring Sammy to the bloc party and I finally did. I was worried about her nipping behavior towards stranger’s heels, and children in general, but we’ve really worked on it so I wasn’t completely worried about it. In public, Sammy is okay with strangers. At home, she lets them know it’s her territory. As for children, she used to be bad around them. Sammy is a very good, well behaved dog, but whenever she saw a child, she had the urge to pursue him or her. It was a subtle behavior. She never tried to yank away from me and attack someone, but I could  read the faint body language that she was displaying.

We’ve come a long way. Sammy no longer behaves this way near children, and will even let them approach her slowly and pet her or give her treats. My assumption is that Sammy was never around small people when she was growing up (she is two years old now and I have had her since November at a year and a half). It is also true that it is the Australian Cattle Dog’s instinct to herd, and the breed does tend to have a nipping problem if not “nipped in the butt” at puppyhood.

It’s usually the jumpy kids that freak her out. As most dog owner’s come to learn, children will always be running up to pet the puppy. Most of the time they do not ask, unless their parents are respectable and teach their children the proper way to approach any dog. Kids who don’t know how to behave in public were usually her target.

Tonight at the bloc party, Sammy hung out with Nate and I. Standing along the street, I overheard a little boy ask if he could go see the dog. His father told him to ask before petting (thank you sir!). I looked at the little blonde headed boy as he approached. He seemed a little shy, but I waited patiently for him to ask. “Can I pet your dog?” 

“Of course you can!” I had a huge smile on my face. I told him that it was her first time here and she could be a little nervous, so approach her slowly and let her sniff your hand first. Sammy isn’t really an affectionate dog anyway. She is with me and Nate, but when it comes to anyone else, it’s like, “eh whatever.” It’s like she shows no interest. I had her sit down and sniff the boy so he could pet her, but she has never liked to sit and let people come up and pet her. She’s kind of like me, and enjoys her personal space. 

She is very obedient though, and let me do what I had to do for the little boy to meet her, even though she was totally uninterested. When he was done, he thanked me and ran off to be with his parents.

Later that night I saw a cute Australian Shepherd puppy. We never went up to them, because I knew the family probably had a million and one people wanting to meet the puppy, who had to be at least eight months old. Instead, I watched him from the opposite side of the street. Sammy wanted so badly to go play with the puppy. It was amazing to see how similar they were, but that puppy is definitely going to grow a little more and fill in much larger than my Sammy. She has always been sort of petite as far as her cattle dog frame goes. Smaller than the average cattle dog, at least.

Then a couple was passing on our side of the street with their little white puppy. Sammy and the puppy came nose to nose, their tails wagging a mile a minute. Nate commented on how cute the puppy was, which shocked me because I didn’t think he liked bully breeds. I asked the couple if he was an American Bulldog, and it must have shocked the hell out of them. They had to stop and tell me how I was the first person to know what type of dog he was, because everyone else kept asking if it was a pit bull. I laughed. American Bulldogs and Pits look nothing alike in my opinion. But maybe that’s because I am around new dogs on a daily basis, and know my breeds.

After the couple walked on, Nate laughed and boasted about how cool it was that I knew all this stuff about dogs.

Overall, it was a great night. Maybe one of the most interesting nights at the bloc party all Summer long. Especially since Nate ended up having a few too many drinks. I told him those mixed drinks can really sneak up on you because they are so good. He had a couple of Sex on the Beaches, and topped it off with some Long Island Iced Tea. We had to leave early and weren’t able to stay long enough to meet our friends at the bloc party. On the drive home, I had the windows down and kept asking him if he was going to throw up.

Just around the corner from home, I had to pull off on the side of the road for him to vomit out of the window. I’ve never actually watched someone throw up, but I could see him in my passenger side mirror. I couldn’t bare to watch projectile vomit and had to look away, or I would soon be adding to the mess on the sidewalk… Sammy was sitting in the backseat with her ears perked, looking down at the street, probably wondering what the hell was going on. 

After throwing up all that alcohol, Nate was feeling a lot better. When we got home, he went to take a shower, and I went to bed since I had to get up in a few hours for work. I can’t wait for next Saturday!