Dog vs. Date Boy

Let's just say... if this was the first time I ever met guitar boy (Mark)... it would probably be the last.  He's not a huge dog person, so I purposely suggested we go to his house the first time we played guitars.  That way the potential of wanting to hang out again wouldn't be altered by a dog.  So naturally, our second hangout was going to happen at my place this time, and I warned him I have a crazy dog.  Tonight Sadie was NOT on her best behavior... and if I hadn't already hung out with Mark before... he might've left wiping his brow, letting out a huge sigh, and thinking, "Sheesh, I'm not going into that apartment again!"  And of course then I would say, "Well fine that-- I didn't like you anyway."  It's a huge bonus if the guy likes my dog and actually plays with her and gives her attention.  But it's not totally essential, as long as they can at least tolerate her over-friendliness and spastic energy levels.  Mark was more on the "tolerate" end of the spectrum, and I think he's allergic to dogs so that makes it tricky.  

Guitar date boy was here for only 2 minutes when Sadie took off out the door.  I'd opened it to step outside to cut my fingernails (a "must do" before playing the guitar) and Sadie was one step ahead of me.  Usually she'll go down the 3 flights of stairs, turbo a few circles in the grass, and eventually run back upstairs.  Of ALL the nights for her to choose to really run away and go crazy all over the parking lot, up and down the sidewalk, and all kinds of routes across the grass... tonight was the night.  I couldn't even get close to her to try to grab her or even tackle her.  She was on the run and not about to come back.

Test #1:  Will Mark come outside and try to play the hero and help?  (What's the right answer, people?  Not sure what I should have expected)  

Answer:  Nope.  He stayed on the couch, playing the guitar.  I was actually totally okay with that... but I think it would've been a few bonus points if he'd come out to help round up the chaos.

I finally gave up and came upstairs.  Mark was surprised I'd returned without the dog.  I grabbed a doggy treat to use for bribery if needed.  Sadie had run into the fenced in playground area, and I'd closed the gate.  So at least she was kind of stuck in there and couldn't get out.  When I went back down (super mad and embarrassed at that point), she came right over to me, let me put her leash on, and came upstairs.  Ooooh, the little punk.  So her consequence was sitting in her kennel for an hour and 15 min while Mark and I played our guitars and watched a basketball game.

I let Sadie out and told her to be good.  She jumped onto the couch and grabbed the paper Mark had been writing chords on.  Ran a few circles, made a few tears... Sadie was back in her kennel.

20 minutes later I let her out again.  We're back to playing guitars and suddenly Sadie's running with Mark's wallet in her mouth.  Sadie was back in her kennel.  And she stayed there until Mark left.

I'm not super giddy or really even drawn to guitar boy... but he's nice and we enjoy hanging out in this fashion.  I'd been hoping to play games or add some other aspect to the night, but after a few hours, Mark said he should get home because he had an early morning coming up... as do I.  So I was okay with ending the night. He said we should play again (of course) and I challenged him to a game of Blokus.  I'm super competitive with games so maybe that will reveal a not-so-good side of me.  But hey... that's me.  

As for Sadie.  I'm not mad at her.  She's still a cute little white and brown dog that is simply cooped up in a condo all day and wishes she could run and play until she's too exhausted to lift her paws.  So we just have to adjust to the circumstances.  I guess since I don't have any sort of "feelings" for Mark, the night didn't phase me as much as it could have if I was super in "like" with him and wanted everything to go smoothly.  I just had to roll with the little mishaps and hope that he wasn't hating everything.  

I think we survived.  And of course now Sadie is really calm and peaceful.  Pretty sure this is how a single mom with kids feels if she tries to attempt dating and brings the guy home to a chaotic house.  I hope I'm never a single mom with kids trying to date people.  That's tough.  But I DO hope I'm a mom with kids one day. :)

Next date:  The other guitar boy who's taking me to Comedy Sportz.  Should be a good one...