Dog parks

[sasvermont]

Now that I have a dog, I have a reason to visit dog park(s). I know of only one about 35 minutes away from my home. I have really, really enjoyed taking Prue to the park. Most dogs are fun for Prue. There have been a couple of dogs that needed to be taken home within minutes, but luckily not Prue. I have enjoyed meeting the people as well as hearing about their dogs. A whole new world. Can you imagine a "cat park"? Hehehehehehehehehe!

I wish my community had such a thing. I know everyone would appreciate it. The dogs get so socialized, very quickly.

Prue comes home EXHAUSTED! She has been three times and each time she is more relaxed and less fussy about who is sniffing her and where. At first she gave in and would flip over.... now she does the sniffing! You go girl!

Anyway, if anyone has any considerations about dog parks, and I know they are all not fabulous, I highly recommend taking your dog to a park. You know your dog best - it takes a bit of courage to take your dog off the leash and let the dogs take over.

Yea, dog parks! I love them.

[Cataholic]

We are so fortunate. I would say there are at least 6 parks within 20 minutes from where I live. AND, we just found an off leash nature preserve, which is fantastic! We can hike on this trail, and we run into some people with dogs, some without dogs, and there must be horses, based on the deposits I see time to time. It is so awesome to get out and about with Jasper not on a leash.

[sasvermont]

Hmmmm, the woods.......Prue is just now staying nearby when I walk her off leash. It is hunting season right now and I am so afraid someone will shoot (us) while in the woods. Even "posted" land gets hunters around here, so there is no woods safe for walking. Until the hunting stops, I will travel to the dog park. I have thought about taking a loud radio with me into the woods to play, so that the hunters would know that there was someone around, but who has transistor radios anymore? I don't! I don't even own a boombox......what's that?

And horses, well, Prue would roll in the manure I am afraid. I know she eats it, so I suspect she would also roll in it! Is Jasper that good, that he doesn't bother with the manure?

[Freedom]

You can use a long line if there are issues with having the dog free.

Also, check www.meetup.com to see if there is a dog play group near you.

Around here, the dog parks are "controlled" by the large dogs. Small dogs like mine don't fair very well, and at times, do get killed. So we stay away from them. I found a small breed group on meet up, and I know a few places we can go walk where my pups can be free AND safe.

[kokopup]

I'm not that familiar with the dog parks in various cities but the one that I have been to has 3 separate areas for dogs. They have small, medium and large dog areas and each one is around 2 acres and heavly wooded with benchs scattered around. I mentioned in another post about Koko freaking on her first visit, I guess because of the smells without any dogs being present. I plan to take her back on a weekend when there may be other dogs around. We normally go to a very large dog event every year so she is very socialize around other dogs. I have several woods areas, other than my own, that we go to often. I usually let her off leash at one of our state parks after we are deep in the woods. We run into an ocassional Hiker or Mountain Biker but there is never a problem because she loves everybody. Most of the Mountain Bikers know her by name since she is a fixture at all of our races. All of the areas that I go are patroled so hunting is not one of my concerns.

[Cataholic]

I should have specified, this is a no hunting zone.

As for Jasper being well behaved, he is an oddity amongst dogs, I fear. With next to no training, he walks without a Leash about 95 % of the time. I have had people stop us on the street to comment. Odd, really. So, yes, he is well behaved enough not to roll in manure if I tell him not to.