Hey Jimmy! Im hoping you can help me. I recently went to the dog park with my mom. It’s my favorite place in the whole widest world! The problem is, I’m shy and don’t know how to make friends. Every time someone comes up to me, I get scared and bark a lot. Mom says if I don’t stop barking and scaring the others, I won’t be able to go back anymore.

How can I make friends without scaring them away? I want to keep going to the park!

JIMMY: Hey Bailey,

Heading to duh doggo pawk feels like duh ultimutt pawdventure, but I totally gets duh nervous tail wags about making new frens. Instead of going full bark-mode when yous meet someone new, try using yous tail to do duh barking! A happy tail wag is like a frenly herro in doggo language. It like whispering, “Hey, I shy but I’d wuv to be frens,” instead of shouting wiff barks. And ‘member, it okays to hang backs and watch at first. Find a puppers who seems calm and frenly, and approach dem gently for a polite sniffers introduction.

Also, tink about bringing a toy to share – it’s a great icebreaker and shows you’s interested in playing and sharing. Just like in hooman pawks, sharing can lead to new frenships. And don’t furget, every doggo at the pawk was duh new pupper once. Wiff a little pawtience and lots of gentle waggers, you’ll find yous pack and have loads of fun. Can’t wait fur you to trot back to duh pawk wiff confidence and make pawesome new pals!

Wags and playful jumps,