Monday, July 19, 2010

The Cool Kid

A few weeks ago we discovered a dog park in our neighborhood. For those Memphians who might be interested, the dog park on Avery (just a seven minute walk from our place) is a great way to give your dog some time to exercise and socialize. The park is apparently an experiment by the city to see if it is the kind of thing they should build more of. It is located in an area with lots of city government buildings so that officials can monitor its use. (video about dog park) Since we are in an apartment without a fence, we wanted to find a place where we could take Hank and let him run without a leash. There is nothing fancy about the Memphis dog park: two fenced in areas (one for small dogs, one for big dogs), several benches, grass, and biodegradable bags for picking up after your pup. Our trips to the dog park have become a favorite part of our routine.
A night at the dog park:
Walk from apartment to park after dinner
Consider letting Hank play with the small dogs, but then opt for the big ones because they are more fun.
Hank walks/sniffs the perimeter of the park and is totally antisocial for about 15 minutes.
Price and I use our most encouraging "doggie voices" beseeching him to "go play, Hankie, go play." Why do we even worry?
Hank approaches other dog (from the back) or visa versa. They sniff. This continues.
(Hank prefers the big dogs)

Hank begins to tease the other dogs, darting in front of them, saying "chase me, chase me, please please chase me."
Eventually, Hank starts a massive game of chase with dogs ranging from Jack Russell to Goldendoodles. He is the fastest.
The other dogs tire. They quit. Hank runs in circles.

Hank finds his BFF (of the day) and they wrestle for awhile. It's usually a bigger dog, but our Hank is scrappy and can fend for himself.
(Hank and his buddy Daisy were fascinated by this Shih Tzu)

Chase again. Starts to slow down. Last night he slowed down to a trot and got blindsided by his friend, Bug. Everyone was laughing.

Back to sniffing the perimeter.

Plops down in the grass. His signal that he's over it.
(Saying goodbye)

We really love the dog park (if you haven't gathered). We especially enjoy talking to the other owners. Everyone loves their dogs, and everyone thinks that Hank is pretty great. We do too. We love the fact that he is one of the popular dogs. He is playful and sweet and brings so much joy into our household. In just two weeks, we have become those people I always made fun of who think of their pets as their children. Ooops.

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