Park for pups

With the temperature at a rare and very pleasant overcast, 83 degrees we decided to take Jackson to a nearby dog park this past Saturday.  The park is separated into two sections, one for “Small dogs” and one for “Large dogs” and despite Jackson’s small stature, thanks to plenty of quality interaction with much larger cousins Max and Maggie we opted for the "large" side. At first he was a little shy, staying near our legs and giving us the “why am I here”? look, but after a few doggy interactions, sniffs of the unmentionables, he was golden. 

This was taken by holding the camera backwards under a bench.  Not bad...

He mingled with fellow pups, and greeted nearly each person in the park.  He played fetch with a tennis ball that Jonathan was daring enough to pick up and throw and put on quite a terrific show of the mom/dad relay. (a.k.a. running back and forth between Jonathan and I as fast as his little legs could carry him.)  I’d say Jackson’s best interaction was with a very submissive female Vizsla who played with him for a little while before joining the other large dogs.  He appeared to long for a little more canine interaction, but overall Jackson’s first dog park experience was a success. 

 

After our Sunday morning cycle and with another day of overcast skies and low temps in store we decided to take Jackson back to the park. However, due to Jackson's apparent appreciation of fetch we were now armed with two frisbees and his own ball.  Just like last time we started in the large dog section, which unbeknownst to us contained a pair of panicky parents.  As happy as ever Jackson entered the park and was greeted by a very energetic female boxer.  She ran to him, they said their hellos and she ran off, leaving Jackson to continue his initial park exploration. 

  We walked about for a little bit and time and again Jackson was greeted, as were we, by this happy go lucky boxer.  Not a bark, growl, nip or rearing onto the back legs was exchanged.  Just two dogs, doing their thing.  But then came the parents.  “Is your dog good with big dogs”?  “Yes” I responded, “he does really well with big dogs”  I smiled, it’s a dog park right, a place where dogs interact, right?  “Well” he continues, “she’s had some bad interaction with small dogs, nipping her face…”  As he was saying this it hit me, he wasn’t concerned about our dog getting smooshed by his rambunctious boxer, he was afraid that our closet ravage beast of a dog was going to rip her face off.  Right.  It got to the point that everywhere we went or where Jackson went, so did those parents.  In fact, every time their dog interacted with any other dog they got nervous and called her name to bring her back to their side.  What the heck is the point of taking your dog to a park if you are so nervous you will not let them interact?

 

Having had enough shadowing by the nervous nellies we made our move to the small dog section. As always, Jackson transitioned with ease and seemingly without concern for what he might be missing in the large park, was happy to repeatedly  retrieve the frisbee and ball.  He actually ran into more guff on the small side with an occasional yap and snap by one of the 3 other, somewhat frantic fellow occupants. Nonetheless, Jackson, being the sweet boy he is, was happy to share his ball with one of the smallest, wiriest, rocketesque dogs I’ve ever seen.  Overall, another great day at the dog park.

 

 We will surely be back, but with the next couple of days expected to be around 113 degrees, I can't say we'll be back too soon.