Dog Park Fun!!!!
|
|
| That is so great! Yay Bosley! I have the same experience just divided between two dogs. Chum trots over to be petted by people -- she greets everyone and barks and wiggles and leans until they pet her. Maggie runs, chases, fetches, wrestles, greets, patrols, and periodically checks in briefly with me and Chummie and sometimes other people too. People that now know her laugh that Maggie is coming for her run-by 5 second pet.
I never knew the dogpark would be so much for me (watching them). |
| So funny! Your pups are hilarious. I don't take Annie to the dog park because I'm afraid she'll get into it with another dog. However, we live in a very large neighborhood attached to townhomes. People are always out and about with their dogs. I usually drop Annie's leash and she'll run right past the dogs to the people for some love! |
Panda loves the dog park...she does exactly the same thing...off she goes to say hi to everyone and every animal....she looks around for me, then goes off again...although she will come back to me and stand between my legs for a "breather" and to let me know that its nice to be petted by others, but your legs are really the only place to be  |
That sounds like so much fun, it would be a riot to watch his clownish antics. I wish we had a dog park here, but there are none anywhere near here. Maybe I could start one up someday  |
GOOD BOY!!!
we have no dog parks here! |
| Clyde does the whole rubbing up to strangers like he's known them forever thing too. I think it comes from the fact that, at the park, everyone is constantly touching him so he just assumes that everyone would like to be rubbed back! He gets so much attention there. Sometimes I'll walk around with Lucy while he plays at the other side and watch him. It always makes me smile how people will be deep in conversation and, almost reflexively, lean down to stroke him as he walks by. There's just something about all the fur! |
 It's definitley the fur, but not just for the people!
Tonite there was a Jack Russell Terrier that just latched onto Bosley as he ran by, and would just hang onto the side of him as Bosley jogged around. The owner kept pulling him off, but the Jack would just tear after Bosley again and jump up for a mouthful of fur and hang there as he got dragged around. Bosley tried to shake him off a couple of times, but it was not happening. The owner said that his dog just had a thing for fur. Everyone was laughing at them. They looked like those big whales with the little fish stuck on them. |
Awww we don't have dog parks, sounds like so much fun, bosley is such a clown, I can just imagine the fun in watching him tear around the park, he is definately a crowd stopper.  |
| Here's a couple pics from yesterday. While we were there, I brought a toy to play a little game of fetch, usually leads to some chasing and fun is had by all. Well, this time one of the regulars with a relatively new second dog decided that everytime her dog got the toy, she would chase him down screaming "LEAVE IT", make him drop the toy and give it back to me and hold him down to let the message sink in, I guess. And then encouraged me to keep playing with Maggie. I said it kind of sucked the joy out of the game to see her dog get reprimanded. She looked angry and said she is trying to teach him to leave other dogs toys alone. I was bummed. Her dog has always been kind of annoying at play (3rd dog in the mix, always humping or trying to bite cheeks) and finally he discovered something worthwhile to do and gets punished for it . . .
Ah well. Here is unconscious petting by random guy (note how he is not even looking at her): 
Exuberant play:  |
| Ha Ha Ha the second photo is hilarious, looks like "attack of the killer fang"
What is the surface in the dog park? |
lisaoes wrote: What is the surface in the dog park? Good eye! There is a tough fabric barrier covered with small gravel and gravel dust. The park is graded too so the water runs off. It is great for preventing mud and puddles but the gravel can be hard on tender feet and there is a problem with the gravel sliding to the edges and the fabic shows through (some dogs try to rip the fabric). I think we just need more gravel and a higher barrier at the edges. . .. We have an active dog park association: http://www.phillyfido.net that also arranged lighting and a water fountain at dog bowl level. |
| I'm curious why the fabric ground? Is that because of the weather there? The dog park I frequent is supposedly the largest in the country (as large or larger than a football field, not including the small dog areas which are probably another football field size) and we just have grass covering the ground. There are a few worn-out patches where there is no grass, but generally the grass works quite well and dries out after a rain fairly quickly.
Spike adores the dog park, it's a fantastic place to go when the weather is nice. We are incredibly spoiled here since this is a city-run park with doggie water fountains and trashcans with pooper scoopers for everyone to use for free. If I ever move out of this area I will be extremely upset to lose such a great place. |
| I think grass may be alot more expensive to maintain (someone has to mow it) and given the number of dogs and quantity of rain, I think it would turn to dirt/mud very fast. At least, that is what has happended to all of the grass dog parks in DC (where I used to live). Plus it is harder to clean up after the dogs because the grass can hide the mess.
The fabric underlayer is meant to deter weeds. It is not supposed to be exposed. The surface is really gravel / gravel dust. Before this, they had wood chips but they switched to gravel. I think someone said that dogs tended to chew the chips. . . . The adjacent small dog park has wood chips because people were concerned about tender feet. But it is much muddier over there in wet weather. |
| Ahh, that's interesting! I'd be concerned about the gravel - I know that many dogs like to nibble on it! Honestly though I don't think that my dog park ever gets mowed - I think (and I could be wrong) that with all the running it keeps the grass length down pretty well. We also don't have as much rain as you guys out on the east coast, so yeah, I'm sure that it would be much muddier in the winter there than what we have to deal with for only a few days out of the year typically. |
| Val, what's the story behind the "muzzle" around Maggie's mouth?
Chris |
| That's a gentle leader headcollar -- to help keep her from pulling on the leash. Not a muzzle! Doesn't restrain her mouth at all. I t just makes pulling unpleasant because it puts pressure on her nose bridge (rather than her very strong neck and delicate trachea). Chummie wears one too. Can't imagine walking both of them without it. Here's more info:
http://www.premier.com/pages.cfm?ID=29 |
| Oh! Of course I've heard of the gentle leader collar but never actually saw one. Glad it works! Will keep it in mind for the next pup!
Chris |
| Our dog park is an actual park. It has sections fenced off for little dogs, and an area with agility equipment to play on, and a huge grassy field area about the size of a football field, and then a wooded area the dogs play hide and seek in, and some fire pits with chairs for the humans on those chilly days. There are doggy bags, garbage bins, chairs for around the fire pit, and the firewood, water dishes, and small wading pools for the summer. On a busy day there might be 50-75 dogs there, but I like the quieter times when only 10 or 20.
I use a gentle leader for Bosley, also. It has a calming affect on him, and he walks very well on it as he cannot pull. |
| Wow that sounds very lovely. Are you in an urban. suburban, or rural zone? Here in the city, I feel lucky to have the fenced-in, gravel dogrun but an open grassy park, wow. The dogs would love it! |
| Our dog park is mostly grass. It started out as all grass but it did get worn down pretty quickly. When areas became bare they would put wood chips down. It does get muddy in the rain.
The small dog area is almost all grass still. Probably because they aren't as hard on it. I think that our dog park gets used really hard. There are a lot of people who just take it for granted. I think that if they had to pay to use it they'd respect it a lot more. |
| We LOVE the gentle leader/Halti for Annie. She walks so well with it and I don't need to worry so much about my shoulders or back getting pulled. Best invention ever!!! We all relax so much better with it. People always think it's a muzzle, but that can be a good thing at times. |
| We have a beige one that cannot be seen under Bosley fur
The dog park I attend is in an industrial area, between 2 fairly large cities. So it is a couple of miles from busy city stuff, but right off of a main road, so easy access. Across the road are warehouses, and on both sides are just fields, that haven't been developed yet. It is the City that runs it, but they ask for donations of $10 a year to put your dog's name on the bulletin board. Everyone cleans up after thier dog, and with garbage bins scattered around it is easy to keep clean. Have't been there much in the summer, so I'm not sure if it is mowed, but there is lovely landscaping with statures of different dog breeds in a huge rock garden. If I go during the day next weekend I will take pics. Very pretty, and lots of stuff for the dogs to do. Bosley comes home exhausted, but very happy. But I am careful to distract him when there is a gang of dogs wrestling together. I am nervous about the whole pack mentality. If there occurs a disagreement I would rather he not be around a huge number of dogs that might get in a frenzy. I know, I know...over-protective mom..  |
Bosley's mom wrote: We have a beige one that cannot be seen under Bosley fur
But I am careful to distract him when there is a gang of dogs wrestling together. I am nervous about the whole pack mentality. If there occurs a disagreement I would rather he not be around a huge number of dogs that might get in a frenzy. I know, I know...over-protective mom.. Chummie's is beige. I got maggie the black one so I could tell them apart. I wish they came in fashion colors or designs. Re dogpark, sounds good protective, not overprotective at all. |
| We go to the dog park weekly too. Ours is grass, but usually the grass is dead between the lack of rain and the running dogs. We have picnic tables, benches, water fountains with a doggy level fountain, and doggy clean up stations. I think it's pretty nice... but supposedly the town is building an even nicer one with more shade (yay!) and an agility course. We have a lot of doggy parks in the Phoenix area and they're all free - I guess that's the benefit of all of these recently built planned communities, lots of space for parks.
And Bailey does the "rounds" the same way you've all described - greeting all the people, making sure everyone has a turn admiring him. He's definitely a people dog! |
We met a sheepdog at the park, today, so I took some pics. Here is Bosley and Sam. They were taking turns with who got to lay down and who had to play on top.
Here is a view of the fire pit, with the wooded are in behind. Everytime Bosley goes in there he comes back with burrs all tangled in his fur. 
And here is a view from about the middle of the park, showing the agility area on the center- left. It is usually grassy, but the snow had all melted, and then it was muddy, and then frozen mud....  You can see how big it is, as far to the back there are garbage cans against the fence. It this point I have no idea where Bosley is,but I do see my husband with the blue jacket chatting with some ladies....
 |
| Great pics! Looks like the other OES was having fun too |
Willowsprite wrote: Great pics! Looks like the other OES was having fun too Hubby, too! No doubt he was just sharing the web address for oes.org... |
| I took Beau to the Dog Park yesterday. When I tell him we're going to the Dog Park he runs over to where his leash is kept and really gets excited.
The size of the dog park we go to is the size of a football field with grass. It has two water fountains (not in use in the winter) one for uprights and one for dogs. Poop bags and benches. Everyone that knows Beau, knows that he poops three times! Yesterday, not too many dogs were out at 9:00 a.m. Too cold! |
| Looks like they all had fun!!!! and so generous to take turns lying in the dirt |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|