Ashley and Ben + One Furry Friend: Oh, that's why there's a fence there!

Well, our weekend is over. Back to work tomorrow for both of us. But we had such a great weekend with our main man, Simba. Although Simba doesn't get to come home with us yet (only a few more weeks until we move into our pet friendly building), he still has a wonderful foster mom, my coworker, who allows us to see him whenever we want. I get to see Simba a lot at my work, Camp Bow Wow, but unfortunately, Ben does not. So we like to use our free weekends to go catch up with our boy.

On Saturday afternoon, we headed to the Hefflinger Dog Park here in Omaha with Simba. An old fenced in baseball field turned into a 7.5 acre dog park. We have a good laugh every time we get him in the car because of his odd quirks. Not sure why, but he sits behind the driver's seat and puts his chin on the floor and tucks his head in the small gap between the console and the driver's seat. We're not sure if he's scared or uncertain, and we probably shouldn't be laughing at him for it, but he's just so dang cute when he does it.

We had a fun and relaxing time at the dog park watching Simba play. He was looking for lots of friends that could keep up with him - but the other dogs either thought he was weird, or couldn't keep up with him.

Here's Simba's personality described in a nutshell: so think back to high school and think about that one nerdy kid that was shy and always got poked fun of or messed around with. An "easy target." But you always thought, how nice and friendly they were and how they were going to make a great spouse to someone one day because they were truly a good person. Maybe a little weird, but had a kind heart. I know you know what I'm talking about. Well, that's Simba - the shy, nerdy kid in high school, always picked last because he was different. But the sweetest, friendliest dog you will ever meet. When Simba was a puppy in the shelter, every one passed him up. No one could look past his looks or the fact that he was different. I like to call him my black sheep :)

He was kind of having a bit of a problem finding some friends to play with at the dog park. So he always went off by himself and slowing approached dogs, only for them to run away or lose interest. I felt like a mother watching her kid eat lunch alone at school. My heart was breaking.

Luckily, he found a friend and let's just say that Simba doesn't deal with peer pressure too well. Ben and I were busy chatting, until we lost sight of Simba. We walked up a hill and as we called Simba's name, we saw his friend, and then him, hurdle out of a fenced-in area ... covered in mud/clay. Our cute white dog was no longer white. Ben and I let out a huge gasp and started cracking up. We managed to run into the owners of the other dog who apologized for their dog being such an instigator. We didn't mind. After our initial gasp of horror, we were laughing it off.

Hopefully he learned his lesson - he started to roll around in the grass because it itched so bad. Then we brought him to my work and had to give him a bath, which he wasn't too thrilled about.

Super exciting Saturday, I know ;)

On Sunday, we participated in the Nebraska Humane Society's Walk for the Animals - a walk for owners and dogs to help animals in need. Kendra, Simba's foster mom, brought Simba so we could walk with him, and she also brought her own dog. We took the 1.5 mile jaunt at 10 a.m. and it was so much fun. We will definitely be participating next year as well. Ben and I also visited the Vendor Village where we were loaded up with freebees, which we love! The Nebraska Humane Society is unlike any humane society I have ever seen. I am so impressed by their efforts and this community adores them. They are such a well-oiled machine and it's so great to have them in our community.

Here are some pictures from the Nebraska Humane Society's Walk for the Animals