Concert in the park

I wish Kaline was as exhausted as Juno and I are! We just got back from his first-ever concert. Not some big horrendously loud thing in a stadium or arena, of course, but the last in the Summer Concert Series put on by our town. The last concert of the summer is always the Sun Kings, an incredibly awesome Beatles cover band. They sound just like the Beatles, plus they use the right guitars! And whoever is playing, say, the John Lennon guitar, will also do the John Lennon part in whatever song they're playing.

Concert in the park!

Two years ago, we did the Sun Kings concert with my semi-foster-dog, a beautiful light brindle pit bull named Dougie. (Semi-foster because he lived in the shelter, but I did take him home for sleepovers and to obedience classes at any opportunity.) We were stupid then and sat in the front row, which was pretty loud for Dougie at first. Of course, being an incredibly affable little dog, Dougie soon realized that the insanely loud sounds weren't actually going to hurt him, and curled up next to me for a nap.

Beautiful Dougie. I miss that dog! (Don't worry, he was adopted by a wonderful veterinarian with three other dogs.)

Anyway, I tried to do it better with Kaline. Dad and I got a pair of beer chairs in what was at the time the back most row, and set Juno and Kaline up on a blankie. Kaline, we discovered, really couldn't have cared less about the noise from the concert. He thought I was quite odd for singing so continually. Sometimes he settled nicely, but there was a lot going on. Max the Puppy Wrangler's parents were right behind us (sans Max, sadly) so Kaline needed to socialize a bunch with them and their friends. He also was indecisive about possibly occupying my lap, so he was up and down and all around.

Temporarily settled.

Lying on Juno's foot.

Check me out. I can settle for a whole concert. Psh, puppies.

Once it was exceedingly obvious that the songs weren't bothering Kaline, I walked him up near the stage where it was a little more chaotic, to work briefly on attention in chaos. I thought at first he was startled by the kids running around; then I realized he was jumping back into a gleeful playbow. Yay. He met a toddler and her father and sat politely for petting. Wasn't scared at all being close to the speakers and all the people dancing happily in front of the stage.

So yeah, Kaline was a little crazy at his first concert, but he was completely comfortable and unfazed by all of it. So I shall count it as a success!