Play date with Jasper the Great Dane

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Yesterday I finally got to meet our local blog friend Jasper the Great Dane! His sister Lexi the Great Dane, who I have met twice before (at Honey the Great Dane's birthday party last November and my first public dancing display last month), couldn't come with him because she had just become a mature woman at ten months old. My little brother Mint went with me.



Lexi and Jasper's human and our mum had been talking about meeting up for a long time, but it didn't happen until yesterday, partly because our mum's work schedule is often unpredictable and Mum didn't want to cancel a meet up at the last moment. But this weekend mum was sure that she didn't have to worry about it, and also Lexi and Jasper's human had offered to help us practise some obedience training. So, on Friday our humans arranged a play date in a park and in the next morning we finally met!



Jasper is a seven-month-old blue Great Dane puppy. I couldn't imagine what a blue colour dog would look like until I met him. He was really beautiful and his coat looked almost like shining velvet!

When I first saw him standing with his human in the car park from the car, I barked at him. I know that it was not an appropriate behaviour, but I just couldn't help doing it! Though, when I got out of the car and came in front of him, I did my best to hold barking and got some praise from my mum. Jasper is a giant puppy, weighing 40kg, but my brother Mint didn't look intimidated by the difference of the size at all and happily greeted Jasper.

After having a little chat, we set out for a walk and then after a short walk Jasper and I were let off leash and had a great time running around at full throttle. I think Jasper was impressed with how fast I could run. Despite the size difference, I never let him catch me! As soon as he almost caught up with me, I geared up and stretched my lead. :-)




I also enjoyed exploring in the trees and bush. A year ago, my mum would have never allowed me to do that, but now she sometimes lets me do it, as she now trusts me pretty much, if not 100%. Today in the park there were so many interesting new smells that I didn't really want to go back to my mum when she called me, but I somehow forced myself to listen to her, because I knew I had to show Mint how to be a good Beagle.

Mint was also let off leash, for the first time in a park. As he had been very good at coming in his puppy class, my mum wanted to test it to see how reliable his recalls were. He was really good in deed. Even if Jasper cut into Mint's way, Mint went around Jasper to get back to Mum! Of course, Mum looked very proud of him.




Later I found a tasty pine cone attached to a short branch and enjoyed the taste of autumn. When any person or dog came close to me when I was eating it, I growled at them to keep them away. Actually, when I was enjoying it, Jasper tried to pester me! So, I taught him that that was the last thing to do to a Beagle when she is eating something!! But, my mum was mean. The moment I looked at a treat she showed me with a full smile, she took the pine cone away!!




In the end we took a photo of us together. Over all it was a fantastic play date! I hope we will do it again soon, next time with Lexi and also another blog friend Pepper, who has moved to Auckland recently!!