Perks of Dog Ownership #1

My daughter, who is a bit of a chicken, just ran screaming from a moth.  Our dog came rushing to her rescue, and ate the killer moth.  The world is once again safe for humanity, thanks to Man's Best Friend.

Unfinished Business

As I said, the dog park is a little like the Internet. You can limit the amount of information you share, and the relationship can be purely park-based. You can see someone for weeks or months on end, but you don't have a phone number, an e-mail address, or even a last name, and then one day they vanish, leaving you feeling.... jeez, where did they go?

It's even worse when real life intrudes on park life, and they leave you not knowing how life has turned out.  That's the story of me and Pat.

Dog Park Friends

Dog park visits become part of the rhythm of life. Some people come early in the morning, before they go to work; some people work from home and take their lunch break at the park. Others come after work, some only on weekends, and some (the unemployed like me) show up all over the map. If you keep a regular schedule, you'll end up seeing the same people over and over.

It's not the morning rush on the subway, where people avoid eye contact and everyone focuses on his or her iPod, newspaper, or nap. The dogs make the difference. Of course some dogs are shy, some stick to their owners, but there are plenty of friendly ones who rush up to strangers demanding affection or recognition. Have a ball in your hand or some treats in your pocket, and you're guaranteed to attract attention.

The Dog Park

We live a seven minute walk from our local dog park. I just learned recently that it used to be a "bus turnaround" point; hence, it has an oval cement path around the perimeter, and a bus shelter at one end. I always wondered how that bus shelter got there; now I know.

Our dog park is large and relaxing. Along with the oval track (which, prior to my recently acquired knowledge, I had assumed was put there by the city so we could walk along with our off-leash dogs), there are a few picnic tables, some large shade trees, and a water fountain. The water fountain has a human end at the top and a doggie spout at the bottom, with water bowls on the ground meant for the hounds, but I've seen larger breeds put paws up and drink from the human end. Humans don't drink from the fountain in the park; we bring bottled water, if we remember.