The new standard when visiting Ashland and/or when San Francisco is playing is to take Kaylee to to the Ashland dog park, tire her out, then proceed to our former neighbor’s house to watch the game or have dinner while sleepy-dog snores in the driver’s seat of the truck.

The first trip was on Christmas day so the park was nigh empty. Yesterday was a different story with the park swarming with well-bred Ashlanders with their equally well-bred dogs.

What concerned me was an Ashland mother with her two very small children. After a few moments it happened: Kaylee spotted the little girl, maybe 5 or 6, and ran straight for her. The scene unfolded in double-time. I saw Kaylee knocking the kid down hard in the dirt, the kid screaming, the mother coming at me brandishing her fists and her lawyer’s business card, and all the other beautiful dog-park-patrons descending on me and my hapless big white dog.

What actually happened was Kaylee skidded to a stop right in front of the child and immediately sat, nearly eye-to-eye with the little girl. The child smiled and patted Kaylee on the head saying “nice doggie!” Kaylee then got up and ran back to me and sat down. The mother, whose sunglasses and wristwatch were my mortgage payment, smiled and said, “what a nice dog!”

I tried to look calm, “oh… thanks,” i wheezed.