After a brutal winter and almost 3 feet of snow, the spring is finally here... well almost. The weather gets so warm all of a sudden and you can almost smell spring in the air.
The girls and I brought Caitey to Princeton University and Nassau St yesterday afternoon. The temperature almost hit 60 and there were lots of people there, many with their pets.
It was Caitey's first stroll down on a busy street so I was a little concerned at first -- my husband was working on our yard at home and I was not too sure if I could handle a dog which likes to jump on people. I kept her on tight leash, and after getting choked back a few times, the naughty girls soon realized that she was not going to chase every boy on campus or sniff every behind she sees on the street... so she gave up quickly. She later heeled nicely with us walking along Nassau, and sat quietly next to us when the girls had their snacks outside Panera Bread.
We received quite a few nice compliments about her and she acted politely when people petted her. Some people were surprised that she was barely 9 months old (you could tell they were not dog owners). A woman let her 7-year old chocolate-colored female Golden socialize with Caitey, and they looked so cute together. Caitey got very attached to the other Golden... almost like a little baby feeling close her canine mommy.
Caitey had a time all afternoon, except when she saw a few balloons dancing in the wind outside a store. She was scared and barked a little. Since she was so well behaved, as a reward I let her have her own way chasing a few squirrels up to the trees before we went back to the car.
I plan to bring her out on the streets more often as the weather improves, and hopefully she will get more comfortable meeting strangers and eventually become a therapy dog.
