Wooo Hooo! Made it to NZ
Sheep sheep sheep! Hardly surprising, since there are something like 70 million of them in New Zealand, but still fun to see them, even in a city park, like this one in the middle of the city of Auckland, Cornwall Park. Auckland, by the way, is a gorgeous city, surrounded by water with lots of dormant volcanoes creating hills and valleys everywhere.
Karen, my host at Learning About Dogs, took Jim and I on a perfect 3 hour walk this morning with two of her good friends (the human kind) and 6 happy dogs. We walked in a beautiful forest and along a black sand beach (the sand is “recycled” lava).
Here’s Rupert, Karen’s English Pointer, that she rescued a few years ago. All six dogs, a pointer, 2 English Setters, 1 Gordon and 2 Giant Schnauzers, ran themselves silly, and loved every minute of it. And because of the dogs, 5 people who had never met were instantly in great conversations — so lovely how dogs bring people together all around the world, isn’t it?
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About the Author
Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can.
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That is one fit dog! Your start in NZ sounds welcoming, homey and just right, particularly with the dogs!
Ooh, so green where you are…so not green back home!!
We moved here two years ago and our dog has brought me a new best friend and got my husband playing hockey three times a week! Definitely a social convener…pretty good for an extremely shy dog!
Looks like a great way to spend Thanksgiving! Do the Kiwis know what that is?
Your photos are beautiful! Did you notice how well the green grasses and the blue skies went with the design of your blog?
Beautiful! Dogs ARE wonderful facilitators of social bonding, aren’t they. I suspect pheromones ;-). I’ve made some of my best friends at the dog park.
Lovely pointer, too. I had a German Shorthair cross growing up and I’ve been a sucker for pointing types ever since. I haven’t met many English Pointers though many of the others (weims, gsp’s, viszlas, etc.) are locally popular as pets and gun dogs. Rupert looks beautiful and radiantly happy.
Have a great time during the rest of your trip!
Our mum was somewhere in this photo. She read your book “the other end of the leash” 2 years ago and thrilled you have come down under to see us. Hung off every word for two days. Keep on doggin and hope you enjoyed the Milford Track, paradise on earth. You have to come back and do the Central Otago Rail Trail. Bodie & the Gooster.
These photos are beautiful, as is the country. Hope you enjoy your stay!