A dog park day of playing, sniffing, and yelping

Alanis explored the park.

Time for a sniff-fest

Sheila the groomer brought her Airedales.

Miro and Rummy introduced themselves to each other.

Then they played. The park is built on a slope, making it difficult to keep the ground cover (hog fuel) in place. Soon we'll be raising funds for more work on the park, adding names to the donor board you can see in the background.

That's Miro with Lupe walking toward the action.

All the big dogs ran, played and sniffed until some people came in with a small dog who threw a wrench into the works. The small dog, Stanley, had a particularly piercing, persistent yelp. He kept yelping and leaping at the larger dogs' faces until there was a big pile-up of wrestling dogs. People waded in to break it up before the excited dogs forgot their manners and somebody got hurt. This happened a couple of times. There was an even more dangerous pile-up when some larger dogs rolled a small Sheltie onto her back.  I said to Stanley's owners, "You know, there's a small dog area and several small dogs here today. You could all go over there and be safer." They shrugged me off.

It's important to note that none of the dogs were aggressive; they were simply getting excited, just like children. How many times have you seen childrens' games end in tears when no harm was intended?

Soon after that, I gathered my dogs and left, hearing Stanley begin his yelping again at another part of the park. 

I wrote once about a large dog scooping up small dog by the harness and carrying it around (park rules ask that people remove harnesses).  Being on the volunteer group, I've received reports of other problems between differently sized dogs, usually on sunny days when the park attracts lots of visitors. Differently sized dogs who get along fine at home or in small groups encounter a changed dynamic at a busy dog park or a doggy daycare. Every dog daycare I've seen separates large and small dogs for safety reasons.

So my question is: why do so many people persist in putting their small dogs in the large dog area, even when they can see it's not working out? Is it OK just because the people happened to be alert enough to stop anyone, canine or human, getting hurt?

I'd really like to see your answers. Scroll way down to the comment section.

Her dirty secret

My human can't count. She thought my 3rd birthday was January 30. She went shopping that day.

Then she looked up my papers and discovered my birthday was January 26, 2009. Eventually she'll forget how many years old I am. Just watch.

Got something right, at least.

Here I am at 12 weeks learning to annoy Alanis.

 

Still chewing on Alanis at one year old.

Practicing my championship sleeping form. Some things never change.

She took me to the new park as recompense for forgetting, not that I pay attention to dates. But then what did she do?

Yikes! What happened to my tail? I'm just about naked.



Opening day

One hundred ninety-nine years ago today a novel called Pride and Prejudice written "by a lady" was published. 

But today is about the park inspired by Jasper, the Jack Russell terrier who needed a place to run.

This morning the entry path looked like this--

and the park looked like this.

Then people and dogs began checking in and getting their KDOG stickers.

They listened to speeches (some more interested than others.)

They waited.

The mayor cut the ribbon and everyone started filing in.

There would be four Airedales today plus that Wolfhound on the right.

People and dogs spread out, waiting for the signal to unleash.

And they're off!

                                      The Airedales found each other. That's Miro in the middle. Being an elderly lady of much dignity and less enthusiasm about strangers, Alanis stayed home today.

Where's Miro?

Waiting for the next trip to the park.

Building a dog park

The city donated the land; KDOG provided the fundraising and labor.

Not open yet because...

We finally finished spreading the rest of Mt. Hog Fuel (ground cover) over the park. The backhoe dumped a large load of hog fuel over the fence. Volunteers spread it by hand with rakes and pitchforks. We were able to purchase the hog fuel with the help of a Petco Foundation grant.

We spread hog fuel over the large dog area.

And the small dog area.

The view.

The wetland outside the park. The park itself was choked with invasive blackberries.

Support for the dog park

Miro and I and fellow volunteer Wendy spent this morning at the Kirkland Petco store talking up the new dog park that will open in the new year. The Petco Foundation is the park's biggest donor, with the local store helping out by giving us table space. We were right next to a small-dog adoption event.

There were little dogs in pens, little dogs barking and squeaking, little dogs patrolling the aisles on leash....

Wendy volunteers for Greyhound Rescue and has two greyhounds but she likes little dogs, too.

She tried to put a Santa hat on Miro for a photo but he wriggled so much that this was as far as we got. He's just not a hat guy.

He did work hard to represent the kind of active dog that will enjoy an off-leash dog park.

Our table wasn't far from Creatures of Interest.

The ferrets tumbled over each other in play, then settled for a nap. Miro sniffed around their plexi-glass enclosure but seemed to know they were off-limits.

This is an adult guinea pig. The ears of the babies stand upright. They're the ultimate in cuteness at any age.

We raised a few dollars and gathered a few signatures for the  KDOG mailing list. Funny thing, though. People didn't seem enthusiastic about coming out to help spread groundcover at the park next week.

Socializing is such hard work.

Miro the beauty contestant

On Sunday Miro entered a contest. I think the winner appears on next winter's cover of City Dog magazine. We (meaning I) braved the rain mostly to promote KDOG's bark for the park contest to get an off-leash dog park in the city.

We waited in line, growing bored and wet because we couldn't see the dogs on stage--

--until we got quite close.

I do not, of course, have a photo of Miro parading across the stage because I had to be up there with him. After our two seconds of fame, we walked over to the dock.

We looked across the lake toward Seattle.

The rain stopped but it was still gray and misty out. Reading about the heat wave in other parts of the country, though, I'm OK with a cold summer. The dogs like cool weather.