Boy or girl?

At the dog park, a common question asked is whether Stella is a boy or girl. I don't mind being asked. She has the beard of an old man and wears a lime green collar. I would probably ask too! 

What I find funny is that dog owners often act offended when you assume the wrong sex of their dog. At first I thought I was being a little insensitive. So I tried to ambiguously refer to dogs by their breed. "Your beagle sure is nice looking!" or "That bulldog is gorgeous!". Then one day, Stella and I were minding our own business as usual when a long haired mixed breed approached Stella and they began playing. The owner sat beside me. I had noticed that his dog had an artsy looking collar. The dog was dainty and the longer hair obscured her/his parts. As the dog approached, I asked how old she was. The owner looked at me crazy and said "You mean how old is HE?" I of course responded politely but was a little peeved. I am sorry I didn't do a full body inspection before I talked about your dog and attempted polite conversation. 

I think our animals are extensions of ourselves sometimes. If anyone assumed Stella was mean or aggressive, it would hurt my feelings because she is the furthest thing from that type of behavior. I guess assuming his dog was a female is the equivalent to the same.

Stella and I have learned a lot of lessons at the dog park thus far. Initially, I felt all the dogs would gang up on her and try to attack her. The first week of taking her daily nearly made me have a stroke. My anxiety was so high! I didn't like the aggressive little dogs or their owners. I didn't speak to anyone because I was so busy keeping Stella out of harms way. It angered me that people would just sit there and stare at their phones while their dog was trampling or being aggressive towards Stella. 

After a few weeks of dog parking it, Stella gained confidence and learned to ignore the aggressive dogs and I learned to ignore the owners. I even made friends with Sharon, a dog park regular.She has been going to the park for several years. I asked her how she managed her dog when the weather was wet or cold. She said she comes to the park every day regardless of the weather and her dogs are used to going in all conditions. While we were talking, she pointed out to the grass out side of the dog park. I looked in the direction but all I saw were grackles. She told me to look next to the grackles. There I saw about twenty of the most beautiful green birds. She said they were wild parrots that lived around the park. They had beautiful blue feathers on the under side of the wings. I found this discovery to be be so inspiring. 

If I had decided to quit going to the park after one week and if I had kept to myself and not have reached out to Sharon, I would have missed out on a lot. I wouldn't have noticed the beautiful birds, or gained a dog park family.