Our poor puppies. They are completely drained after Friday night’s “adventure.”

Nuestros pobres cachorros. Estan completamentedestrozados despues de nuestra “aventura” del Viernes.

It all started out in the afternoon when Javi got off work early. The Christmas Parade was going on Friday night downtown where he works and his office got out early so they could beat the traffic nightmare. We wanted to take the dogs for a long walk to tire them out, but we didn’t want to walk in the dark without reflectors. We’ve been thinking about how they need more human interaction, so we decided to take them down to the Christmas parade where there would be plenty of people and distractions and they could learn to adapt to a crazy situation.

Todo empezo en la tarde cuando Javi salio del trabajo temprano. La parada de Navidad fue el viernes en la noche en el centro donde el trabaja y su oficina salio temprano para evitar la locura del trafico. Nosotros queriamos hacer una caminata larga con los perros para poder cansarlos harto, pero no queriamos caminar de noche sin reflectores. Hemos estado pensando que necesitan aun mas interaccion con humanos, asi que decidimos traerlos con nosotros a la parada donde habria un monton de gente y distracciones que les ayudarian a adaptarse a situaciones medias locas.

We were not prepared for how crazy it was really going to be.

No estabamos preparados para la locura que iba a ser en verdad.

It started out okay – they do pretty well with lots of people, the only thing was that there were so many smells all over the place and Chupi (being the hunting dog that he is) just couldn’t get enough. But that was normal, and not a big deal. Then the 5k opened up the parade, so there were tons of people running by, some dressed up in crazy Christmas costumes, but still, no big deal. The first 2 minutes were exciting for the pups, but they got used to it. Then the trouble started.

Todo empezo bien – ellos no tienen problemas cuando hay harta gente, la unica cosa era que habian tantos olores y Chupete (siendo el cazador que es) no podia aguantarse. Pero eso es normal, noda grave. Luego la carrera de 5 kilometros abrio la parada, asi que habia un monton de gente corriendo, pasaban algunos disfrazados con cosas navidenas, pero aun asi, nada grave. Los primeros 2 minutos fueron interesantes para los perros, pero despues se acostumbraron. Luego empezaron los problemas.

The first sign that should have told me this was a bad idea was Chupi’s reaction when the vendors would walk by with the sparkly light up overpriced children’s toys…They really freaked him out, but he eventually got used to them, and we’d pull him back off the street whenever they’d go by. Then the fireworks went off…which could have been worse, really, but mostly Chupi and Chori just cocked their heads back and forth constantly trying to figure out what was making the noise and why.

La primera senal que debi haber leido que fue mala idea traerlos fue la reaccion de Chupete cuando los vendedores ambulantes pasaban ofreciendo juguetes para ninos subidos de precios que tenian miles de luces…en verdad lo asustaban, pero despues de un rato se acostumbro, y simplemente lo haciamos sentarse cuando pasaban. Luego los fuegos artificiales emepzaron….lo que pudo haber sido peor, pero Chupete y Choripan simplemente movian sus cabezas trantando de entender que pasaba, que hacia tanto ruido y porque.

Then came the police motorcycles. They were loud, but they didn’t rev their engines (thank goodness). The lights terrified Chupi, but he still held his ground alright.

Luego vendrian las motos. Hacian mucho ruido, pero no hicieron rugir sus motores (gracias a dios). Las luces asustaron mucho a Chupete, pero aun asi se mantuvo calmo.

Then the TSU marching band came by. The band stopped right in front of our spot and paused the music for a bit, then every single drummer smashed their drums at the same time. This was too much for Chupi and Chori and they frantically jumped back, trying to get away from the band. Then we noticed they were both shaking.

Luego la banda de TSU paso. Tuvieron que parar justo al frente de nosotros y dejaron de tocar por un segundo, despues todos los tambores sonaron al mismo tiempo. Eso fue mucho para Chupete y Choripan y como locos saltaron para atras tratando de alejarse de la banda. Ahi nos dimos cuenta que tiritaban.

We calmed them down, a very patriotic Rudolph passed us, then the horses trotted by, which we expected would cause trouble but horses apparently don’t scare our dogs nearly as much as sirens and flashing lights.

So too bad for us (and more unfortunate for the dogs…), the next spectacle was the sheriff’s dept. As far as we could see, all that was on its way was enormous truck after truck of flashing lights, honking horns, sirens and whistles. It was awful. I’ve never, ever ever in my life seen Choripan that upset! He’s usually so happy-go-lucky! So by this point Javi had completely backed up away from the street with the dogs, and I stayed by the parade route to get a few shots. After that part ended we hoped that would be the end of the sirens and flashing lights and that the floats were coming (because of course giant floating reindeer, Santa Claus and snowmen aren’t scary to dogs) but sure enough, it was the fire department’s turn. So Javi and I decided the dogs were too miserable and we weren’t too thrilled with the noise either, so it was time to leave.

Lamentablemente (y mas aun para los perros), el proximo spectaculo fue el departamento desheriff. Todo lo que podiamos ver eran camiones y camiones con sus luces, tocando las bocinas y sirenas, y pitos. Fue horrible. Nunca habia visto a Choripan tan asustado!! Normalmente a el no le importa nada! Asi que a este punto Javier se fue lo mas lejos de la calle posible con los perros y yo me quede cerca de la parada para sacar fotos. Luego que eso haya pasado esperabamos que fuera el final de las sirenas y luces y que los globos gigantes serian lo proximo, pero claro, era el turno del departamento de bomberos! Asi que  Javi y yo decidimos que los perros se veian demasiado miserales y no estaban para nada felices del ruido y las luces, asi que era tiempo de irse.

Poor Chori. He was a mess. I actually picked him up because he was shaking so much and so terrified, and he positively clung to me. His little limbs were wrapped so tightly around my waist and neck I thought I’d never pry him off of me. Oh it broke my heart! How could we not have seen that coming!

Pobre Chori. Estaba mal. Yo lo tome en mis brazos porque estaba tiritando de miedo, y se me abrazo como koala. Ss patitas estaba bien apretadas a mi cintura y cuello que pense que nunca me lo podria sacar de encima. Me rompia el corazon! Como no pense que esto podria pasar!

Honestly, when I thought of the parade I didn’t think cops and firemen, I thought Santa, reindeer, some floats and Christmas carolers, music, you know, distractions we could handle with the dogs. It’s not like they are strangers to exciting situations and loud noises – we live in front of Stratford high school and their marching band practices practically in our back yard every week! But the flashing lights, hundreds of people, and every other terrifying thing you can think of was just too much. They were EXHAUSTED when we got to the car (which in itself was an adventure, because we crossed the street before the parade, so we had to go all the way to the top of the parade route to cross, then walk all the way back down to get to the car). Afterward we took the pups to the village pub and they collapsed on the porch while we had dinner. Don’t worry – we gave them a ton of treats when we got out of there. They are alright now – and mission accomplished; we got them around lots of people and crazy things and they really did behave themselves. But now we know…definitely no more parades for these pups.

Honestamente, cuando pense en la parada no pense en policias y bomberos, pense en Santa, venados, algunos globos y canciones de navidad, music, saben?, cosas que los perros podrian soportar. No es que sean extranos a situaciones de alto estimulo y ruidos fuertes – vivimos frente a la escuela Stratford y su banda tiene practicas todos los dias practicamente todos los dias de la semana! Estaban DESTROZADOS cuando llegamos al auto (lo que fue otra aventura, peroque tuvimos que cruzar la calle pasando frente a la parada, y hacer tremenda vuelta para encontrar un buen lugar para cruzar). Despues de eso nos fuimos al Village Pub y se durmieron en el proch mientras nosotros cenabamos. No se preocuen – les dimos muchos ricos cuando llegamos al pub. Estan bien ahora – y mision cumplida; los paseamos al rededor de mucha gente y cosas locas y en verdad se protaro nbien. Pero ahora sabemos….definitivamente no mas paradas con estos cachorros.

Also, a little off subject and totally an afterthought, but is the likeness uncanny or what?? I mean, while we’re on the topic of the pups and Nightmare Before Christmas…