Cujo! Ugh.

Yesterday was a very full day for me and Haruki. The day started out around 10:30, when she and I embarked on a ... girl's trip!!! (Cue excited screeching.) (If I could figure out the f-ing emoticons on my computer I'd insert about sixty zazzilian now.)

We drove from Boulder up to Estes Park, Colorado, where my brothers, sister in law Jennifer, and parents were staying for the night while doing Ride the Rockies.

Haruki and I got to town around 12:30 and had lunch with my Mom and Jennifer while we waited for my brothers and Dad to finish riding. Afterwards, we headed to my parents' hotel, where they showered and Haruki and I took a stroll around Lake Estes.

Um, not too shabby, right?

During our walk, Haruki played in the lake, sniffed out moving critters, and largely pulled my arm off. She was overexcited by all the new sights, smells, and sounds, and was not behaving like her usual self on the leash. 

After our solo walk, we met up with my (now showered) brothers and went with Jennifer and my mom to take a walk along the creek path that borders the town of Estes Park. 

We saw elk!

The path was actually closed off near the elk because recently a lady was f-ed up by an elk mom.
Dang, those elk are legit!

My twin brother, Brian, and his wife Jennifer recently welcomed their new baby girl into the world. She was indifferent to the elk:

But I posed with her anyway:-)

Is it obvious we are twins?

After our walk we hit up the Ride the Rockies beer garden, which is where yesterday's smidge of drama unfolded. Ruki was still pretty excited--unable to sit down for very long, in frantic sniffing mode, etc. I thought about putting her in the car, but decided that we wouldn't stay for too long--just long enough for me to have a (wonderful) beer and a (mediocre) veggie burger.

Not long after eating, we were all sitting around and laughing when all of a sudden Haruki jumped up and darted at a passing dog. She.flipped.her.lid. I mean, she looked like Cujo all of a sudden, barking and growling and snarling at this dog who to my eyes hadn't done anything aggressive or threatening. Luckily our friend James pulled Haruki away from the other dog, because all I could do in my panic mode was attempt to step on her leash while she was going for the other dog.

Sigh. This was not a tragedy. There were no bites or injuries, but the sudden and seeming random nature of Ruki's behavior really shook me up. I called David on the drive home totally upset and crying salty, sobby, cry-baby tears:-) Too bad he's a rational philosopher robot; he just said some reasonable things and I felt like a doofus for crying. 

Last night and this morning Ruki definitely kept her distance from me. I think she could tell I was really upset with her, though unfortunately not because I did anything to discipline her after the incident (I was too upset.) (This is why having a vagina and estrogen does not pay off in the long run, no matter how many times it gets me out of lifting heavy stuff on moving day.)

I guess I'll have to self-administer some more doses of The Dog Whisperer for my evening activity tonight...maybe Cesar Millan will teach me how to send Ruki into a trance with just a wink or wishful thinking...

On a more positive note, Haruki did manage to get this flower stuck in her collar while rooting around a flower pot yesterday. So there's that. 

*If you have a dog, how does it behave around other dogs? Is it shameful that part of my frustration with Ruki's behavior was that it really embarrassed me? Are all the other blog girls' dogs perfect angels?