It was a doggone party...

Do you have dogs?
Do you let them run crazy when you have a party?

We went to a party at the neighbors' the other night. It was a luau. The invitation said to bring a side dish and that the barbeque and beverages would be provided.

We arrived at the requisite time. The host met us in the driveway with his 3 Labradors. Labradors are crazy - we had them. They require constant work and training until they get old and lazy. We never let our Labs out when we had company - and ours were trained not to jump.

Gram doesn't like jumpy crazy dogs - especially if she's carrying a side dish to share. These dogs kept jumping on her trying to get her dish. Gram isn't tall - as a matter of fact, she's relatively short. These dogs could jump higher than Gram is tall. They tried to put their paws on her shoulders. It was not pretty. I was afraid they were going to knock her down the front stairs. Dad kept trying to distract them from her, but it didn't work. And the host - he had zero control.

Once we were inside, things got worse so the host put 2 of the 3 dogs in the garage. We heaved a sigh of relief. And then 10 minutes later they were back. UGH!

This couple has no children. Just dogs.

They have an indoor pool area that leads to their gorgeous back deck. We decided it might be safer to sit there - until the dogs jumped in the pool. They went in because the host decided that he would tire them out by throwing dog toys in the water for them to retrieve. (It didn't work.) When the dogs got out of the pool, they would run under the table and shake. Can you say - eeewwww... smelly wet dog water on your legs, pants, dresses, shoes, etc? They did this more than twice.

As people arrived, they were greeted by the same torture we were. One family brought their son and daughter with the idea that the kids could swim (as was indicated on the invitation). Nope. The kids spent the time in curled up in arm chairs trying to get away from the smelly wet creatures. Not fun for them. Not fun for us watching helplessly.

The dogs kept trying to steal food off of the counters and tables. One stole food from a guest's plate. We spent the evening saying things like "Leave it!", "Don't touch!", and "NO!" The whole thing was insane.

Eventually, we'd been there long enough that we could leave and not seem rude. We blew out of there so fast! I never got to speak to the host or hostess because they spent the whole time with their dogs.

Not for nothin', but when I have a party, I put Zeb on a leash until the guests have finished arriving. (He is more comfortable - he gets nervous when people start to arrive, he's quiet, and we have control over what he does.) Then we put him in his crate with a cookie and a toy.

The party could have been a blast. Alas, it was not.
I think we might skip the next one.