A Trip to the Dog Park
There is a neighborhood near my house where just about every household has at least one dog. Many of the families living there have two or three dogs. As a result, not only is the neighborhood very noisy, but it is also very dog friendly.
My neighbors are mostly getting up there in age. The dogs around here seem to fall into two categories – lap dogs or barely old enough to climb up and down their front steps. My dog, I can tell, is rather lonely.
A few months ago, I was walking through this neighborhood that has so many dogs in it and thinking, “wouldn’t it be nice if I could introduce my dog to some of these dogs?” I turned a corner and right before me was this brand new dog park roped off in the middle of a popular park.
On the inside of the fence surrounding this dog park, there were about a dozen dogs running free from their dog leashes with one another. The dogs were jumping and playing and having a good old time.
I took my dog to the gate and he just couldn’t contain his excitement. I let him off his leash and he ran to the middle of the pack. I huddled around the fence with the other doggy parents as we watched our pups play with their dog toys.
I started making friends with the other “regular” dog owners after about a week of taking my dog to the dog park. Friendships were struck, and we started planning “people activities”, like coffee and shopping, where we could include our dog pals..
Now our activities regularly include gathering at the dog park and then walking to the local coffee shops. We take our dogs walking along the river, hiking in the hills, and on other fun outings. Dog walking in my neighborhood has truly helped me form a network of close friends that I feel comfortable spending a solid 1-2 hours with several times a week.
When I go dog walking without the other dogs, I can tell my dog wonders where they are and looks for them. Whenever I take him off the leash he always runs as quick as he can to the doggy park! We are lucky to have so many dog friends and like-minded families living near us.
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 3:25 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.