Since the weekend, we've been taking Sam to a park every day. On Monday night, we went back to the Off-Leash Park at Lake Ontario Park but were driven away by a couple of things.
Because it was so humid and rainy on Monday the mosquitoes were terrible. After the rain, the breeze disappeared. We were trying to keep Sam in the shady part of the fenced off area and the bugs were thick under the trees. Mark and I endured being chewed alive for a while but when this big bitch named Mia started going nuts on Sam and on us, we decided to leave. It was odd actually, around the time when Mia arrived with her humans, I asked Mark, "Can you smell alcohol?" There was a very very strong smell of it, like it smells when it's coming from a person's pores (I know that's sort of gross but that's what it was). There was an older gentleman (probably in his 70's and a young woman (looked like late 20's to me) with this dog and I got a sense that the smell was coming from him.
They let their dog off the leash and she was chasing some other dogs who were closer to her in size. At first I thought, "how cool, they are really running hard." It didn't take me long to realize though, that she was chasing them in an "assertive" fashion. Sam had been off playing with some smaller dogs and had made his way over to me. For whatever reason, Mia got tired of chasing these other dogs and come toward Mark and I. Now, while this was going on, a very cool dog named Cassie was sharing Sam's water with him. Mia made a move toward us and Sam barked at her, just a little "hey back away from my human" sort of thing. Mia really didn't like this because she got very vicious and wouldn't move away, kept barking at Sam. She was actually so loud (of course by this time Sam starts barking) that a guy in the condo across street hollared at them to shut up.
Mia's owner was all "hey it's alright" to us and "you be good or we're going home" to Mia. Really, he should have put the leash on her and left. He didn't though so we did. After that episode, I think we'll wait until at least the ground dries up before we return the park. It was quite the doggie drama.
Last night, we went back to the dog park near our house. It's pretty open and doesn't have any shade but last night, it didn't have any other dogs either. Part of what is good about Lake Ontario Park is that Sam can hang out with other dogs. He doesn't really run as much when they are there though, he plays but doesn't run like he does at the M Centre. Last night, he ran his little guts out.
It's very interesting, all of this dog park stuff. I just hope that they give the go-ahead to the pilot project so that things can get settled and be permanent. It's a little embarassing that a city the size of Kingston doesn't actually have a permanent leash-off area yet.
Showing posts with label park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label park. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
yikes
I've not officially been avoiding posting or anything, it just happened that over the past week, I've not been in front of the machine much.
Over the weekend, I was offline for about 36 hours while my computer had it's operating system rebuilt. It's up and running really well now thanks to Mark.
Mostly, it's been hot here. Humid too. It's not the kind of weather that inspires me to do much but laze around in a shady or cool spot and drink water or eat freezies.
We have been keeping busy though and having lots of fun with Sam. He's now at the point with his obedience training where he can go out in the front yard without his leash on. This is huge. We can open the car door and know that he's not going to run away. Most likely, he'll be on the porch, waiting patiently for us to open the front door if he does get out of our line of vision.
Over the weekend, we visited (or tried to visit) 3 of the off-leash dog parks that the city has opened as part of a pilot project. One of the parks is near our house so we went over there on Saturday morning. We'd been out doing errands and Sam was along for the ride. He was super well behaved so we thought it would be a nice treat for him to have a big run at the park. The park near our house is not snow fenced like some of the parks (the park has chain-link fencing around the perimeter because it's used for the town fair in the fall but the dog zone is not fenced off). It's also not shady and there is no water available. Now we did have our own water but it didn't take long for all three of us to have had too much of the hot sun. Sam had a ball, running back and forth between us as we walked around the park.
Yesterday, we went to one of the better organized parks. It's got a snow fenced/gates zone for the dogs, lots of parking for vehicles and a water supply (not to mention washroom facilities for people). We met some cool people and Sam met a lot of dogs. He didn't run around as much as he did on Saturday because he was getting to know the dogs. He stayed pretty close to where we were but seemed to really enjoyed being with the other dogs. Some of them were puppies from what I could tell. There were some really small dogs and some huge ones and they all got along okay.
Tonight, we're planning to go back on our way home from work. It's nice for Sam to be out with the other dogs and it's nice for us to be outside near the lake shore to catch a breeze!
Over the weekend, I was offline for about 36 hours while my computer had it's operating system rebuilt. It's up and running really well now thanks to Mark.
Mostly, it's been hot here. Humid too. It's not the kind of weather that inspires me to do much but laze around in a shady or cool spot and drink water or eat freezies.
We have been keeping busy though and having lots of fun with Sam. He's now at the point with his obedience training where he can go out in the front yard without his leash on. This is huge. We can open the car door and know that he's not going to run away. Most likely, he'll be on the porch, waiting patiently for us to open the front door if he does get out of our line of vision.
Over the weekend, we visited (or tried to visit) 3 of the off-leash dog parks that the city has opened as part of a pilot project. One of the parks is near our house so we went over there on Saturday morning. We'd been out doing errands and Sam was along for the ride. He was super well behaved so we thought it would be a nice treat for him to have a big run at the park. The park near our house is not snow fenced like some of the parks (the park has chain-link fencing around the perimeter because it's used for the town fair in the fall but the dog zone is not fenced off). It's also not shady and there is no water available. Now we did have our own water but it didn't take long for all three of us to have had too much of the hot sun. Sam had a ball, running back and forth between us as we walked around the park.
Yesterday, we went to one of the better organized parks. It's got a snow fenced/gates zone for the dogs, lots of parking for vehicles and a water supply (not to mention washroom facilities for people). We met some cool people and Sam met a lot of dogs. He didn't run around as much as he did on Saturday because he was getting to know the dogs. He stayed pretty close to where we were but seemed to really enjoyed being with the other dogs. Some of them were puppies from what I could tell. There were some really small dogs and some huge ones and they all got along okay.
Tonight, we're planning to go back on our way home from work. It's nice for Sam to be out with the other dogs and it's nice for us to be outside near the lake shore to catch a breeze!
Saturday, July 05, 2008
picnic basket
For the first time all week, we all felt pretty much normal this morning.
Mark and I got up sort of early and got out and did errands before it got too busy. While we were out, we decided to pack a lunch and head for the park and maybe buy some strawberries while we were in the country.
Fortunately for us, the park was quiet and we found a nice shady spot by the water for our picnic. Sam really enjoyed the park and there weren't too many other dogs around for him to bark at!! After lunch, we took off to Wynn's Farm for berries. They are amazing this year. Very tiny but delicious. We dropped some off at my mum's house on our way back into town. When you find berries that good, it's bad karma not to share!
It was kind of nice to get outside and away from the neighbourhood. The musical ride is at the fair grounds up the street from us so it's kind of noisy around here right now. The horses are nice to see and the RCMP always look spiffy in their dress uniforms but boy howdy it's loud!!
Mark and I got up sort of early and got out and did errands before it got too busy. While we were out, we decided to pack a lunch and head for the park and maybe buy some strawberries while we were in the country.
Fortunately for us, the park was quiet and we found a nice shady spot by the water for our picnic. Sam really enjoyed the park and there weren't too many other dogs around for him to bark at!! After lunch, we took off to Wynn's Farm for berries. They are amazing this year. Very tiny but delicious. We dropped some off at my mum's house on our way back into town. When you find berries that good, it's bad karma not to share!
It was kind of nice to get outside and away from the neighbourhood. The musical ride is at the fair grounds up the street from us so it's kind of noisy around here right now. The horses are nice to see and the RCMP always look spiffy in their dress uniforms but boy howdy it's loud!!
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