Day 12:  SATURDAY

Mikey continues to attract compliments and questions from strangers! Saturday we did a trip to Hillside Dog Park and then a long slow walk through Dumbo, just like last week. One couple in the dog park asked what kind of dog he is (which most people ask) AND if he was a puppy (!!). Mikey a puppy?  Quite the opposite!  They reached out to pet him and he sweetly allowed them a few pats.  He even did a polite hand-lick.  "He's so well- behaved!"  I agreed.

(I notice this cute thing whenever Mikey gets petted.  He submits for a little while, then steps away and shake shake shakes himself.  I believe he likes his fur to be standing up, not flattened down.  Is that just a Mikey thing, or do all dogs do that?)

Just a Mikey thing.

Later, as we were meandering along Adams Street, Mikey stopped to sniff a tree.  We were near a parked car, and 2 little boys (maybe 6 years old?) were getting in.  It's impossible to ignore a dog like Mikey, of course, so they reached out their hands to be sniffed and they very gently petted him.  "He looks like a fox!"  "Or a wolf."  "Yeah!"  Mikey was SO GOOD.  

Here's another bit of info regarding how Mikey responds to petting: I've noticed when people pet Mikey on his back, he often flinches and might even walk away.  He sometimes does the same thing if people try to pet his head.  This is true even if he sees the hand coming toward him, even if he sniffs the hand first, AND even if it's me or Scott!

So when these little boys (who were very well- behaved) petted Mikey and he didn't flinch or back off AT ALL, I was IMPRESSED.  It may be too soon to say the blanket statement "Mikey is always good with all kids" but it's certainly starting to look that way!  He has never snapped, growled, or barked at a kid.  He always sniffs their hands and permits them to pet him. I've never seen him flinch away from a kid.  In my experience, he actually seems better with kids that he does with adults!  

I LOVE this collage. I wonder if Mikey's as good with kids as this sesame-color shiba inu?

Now, to be fair, we haven't run into any rowdy or screechy kids or babies yet, so it may be too soon to say how he is with ALL kids.  But I can say Mikey is GREAT with reasonably well- behaved kids.

While walking in Dumbo, I finally found some grass for Mikey to walk on!  If you remember, he did get some nice grass under his little paws, briefly, when we visited Brooklyn Bridge Park last week, but there was a No Dogs Allowed sign, so we moved along. And I feel bad because there isn't grass in the dog park, and no other grass available for him to walk on.  

Hillside Dog Park understandably has wood chips, not grass.

But as we walked beneath the crisscrossing loops of the Brooklyn- Queens Expressway (BQE) on- and off- ramps in Dumbo, we saw it: LANDSCAPING!  There were big grassy areas Mikey could walk on.  So we found a place that was safe to access. (Don't worry, I didn't cross a busy on- ramp with a slightly- arthritic 12 year old dog!) Mikey seemed to like the grass a lot. But I think his favorite part was the ice cream sandwich wrapper he found!

Thanks to rapheevanoff for the great photo!

Interesting fact:  we can thank Robert Moses (the actual guy, not the product of Mikey's dinners) for the BQE slashing and burning its way through Dumbo, and also the rest of Brooklyn and Queens.  Neighborhoods and communities be damned! Oh well.