Dog Park

Saturday I took Dingo and Max to the dog park. I had looked it up last year sometime (before we even got Max) and had been meaning to go for a while. I decided I had to take them soon, because Max has been destroying things in the backyard (digging holes to get under the fence - two of them, digging random holes in the grass, etc). I'm guessing that because I haven't taken them on any good walks (or any walks period) for quite a while, he was looking to release energy / get stimulation / something else that dogs are thinking / etc.

I really started thinking the dog park would be a good idea a few weeks ago when, just having come home from a walk, I saw two of my neighbors outside with their two dogs each. They called me over to join them, and for the next 20 minutes or so, the six dogs all played together. Max was the biggest by far (with Dingo being the second biggest) but Max loved it. He ran around the yard in circles while another dog chased him. Dingo kind of wandered around sniffing here and there, and two of the other dogs followed behind him.

So, Saturday, I went because I had wanted to get them out on a walk for a while, but after running 13.1 miles I didn't necessarily feel like taking them on a long walk - which is what they needed. I figured it was a perfect day to go to the dog park. The weather was a little cool, but not terrible. I got there, and there were about 7 other dogs running around. As soon as I pulled up to park, Max started whimpering and whining to get out of the car and go play. Then, when we were walking to the gate, he kept pulling on the leash, racing to get in there.

And he loved it.

There were a couple of other big dogs that he ran around with, and some smaller ones too. Dingo just kind of wandered around, interacting with a few other dogs here and there.

Yesterday, I took them again. Sunday is the time to go, because there were 20+ (maybe even 30+?) dogs there. Max loved it. Yesterday there was this little dachshund (Bentley) that he kept playing with. Max would do the start and stop thing with him where he'd be running around, pull up suddenly, and then dart in the other direction, sometimes jumping over Bentley. It was adorable. Bentley's owners loved Max because he didn't try to eat Bentley the way one of the three huskies did.

There was one great dane when we got there, and two more showed up while we were there. The first one was so tall. I couldn't believe how long his legs were. And he was fascinated with Dingo. It was so funny. He kept following Dingo around while Dingo just wandered randomly. Then the second dane to show up followed him around too. I wish I had gotten pictures, because the first one was more than twice the size of the Dink. One bad things about the danes were their drooling. They drooled on Dingo so much that you could feel it on his head and back when petting him. (don't worry, I've given him a rub down with soap and water since then)

Good times.

I'll be taking them more often now that it's (finally!) warming up. But we've had false-alarm-warm-days before... I hope they last this time!