Every few months or so, many of the Bernese Mountain Dog owners in The Lou get together at a park somewhere for a walk or picnic. One of our friends, Harriet, manages to reserve a spot, e-mail everyone, and basically act as our Julie McCoy to coordinate all the nuts of bolts of these gatherings.

Today’s event had a tremendous turnout, with over 30 Berners, and plenty of folks to go along with them. We met new faces, and re-acquainted ourselves with folks we’d not seen in a while. And of course, we played with the dogs. There’s been a lot of puppies born in/around The Lou over the last year, so fuzzballs and lanky legs were everywhere. And we all missed some Berners that, sadly, weren’t with us any longer.

Harriet’s girl, Amber, is now the grande olde dame of the group, creeping up on 11 years old. Even Molly is starting to creep into the eldest echelons — third oldest in attendance today. You’d never know it to see her run and play — she’s still like a pup.

A couple from Illinois has been talking with us about draft, and brought a draft harness for Molly to try on. She took to it like she’d been drafting all her life. We attached a lightweight backpack to the harness for her to drag around, and she did quite well with it, only occasionally looking behind her to see what the noise was. It was so cool to see her doing what the breed was bred to do. I don’t know that Molly’s got the obedience skills to get any kind of title on her, but I woulda bet against her getting a rally title, and yet I can see her Rally Novice title hanging on the wall across the den.

It was a great day, full of sun and fun, fur and spit — I can’t wait ’til next time!