There's this mutt at the dog park that is completely misunderstood. She doesn't get much attention, probably because she's not all that playful or especially friendly with other dogs. She's not mean, she just doesn't tolerate pushy dogs much.

Anyway, I see her there every time I go. She never strays far from her owner but one day she came sniffing around me. I gave her some tentative pets because I sensed that she wasn't big on people that get in her face. She did that shy dog sniff, where they stay just out of reach - I gave her some quiet lovings and she took off tail high.

Next time I saw her, she came up to me again. She was still a bit shy but not as much as before. So, I talked her up quietly and scratched behind her ears.

Pretty soon she was greeting me every day and even trusted me enough to lean up in to my body scratches.

Well, today I went to the dog park for the first time in about a month. When my dogs and I came around the corner of the trail I see this mutt running at me full speed from across the field, tail wagging with the biggest smile on her face I've ever seen. You could tell that she was happy to see me. She left her owner in the dust to run to me. It was way too cute. I gave her all kinds of lovings, body scratches and told her how pretty she looked in her blue jacket.

You just can't help but smile at a dog like that. The recognition and happiness in the dogs face when she saw me was way too cool. What a sweetie. I don't understand why more people don't make an effort to love on this dog. Her owner is very lucky imo!