Positive Focus Sunday - Outings at the Dog Park

Don't let that innocent looking face fool you. This is a one-year-old, 100 pound baby with 4 legs. That can kill with farts alone. 

However...

He also will let the cats play with his tail and groom him. He will groom back, but don't think they enjoy his drooling tongue as much.

Anyway...

Texter and Mr. Cobra have a large park about 15 minutes from their house. And they go there almost every day if the weather is nice. Not for the exercise so much, as the fact there is a Pokemon Go gym there. And they will take Lady K to the park for her to play in the playground area when they have her.

The park also has a large dog park area. 

So last Tuesday, after Mr. Cobra got off work for the day, we met up. 

Now Slider knows what his harness is for. And it's like trying to get a coat on a toddler. It takes time and coordination as he is holding the harness in his mouth and turning in circles. 

What's nice though, is once the harness is on and we can go, he will run to the car to get in when I open the gate. He doesn't take off down the block.

Of course, the ride is him going from front to back and side to side in the car. Yes, I have tried the seat belt fastener, but he seems to be able to step on the seat belt release button, so it doesn't make much difference.

I have been a bit hesitant about taking him to a dog park. He does fine with dogs and people when we go out for a walk (which isn't often enough), but wasn't sure about running free with a bunch of other dogs.

After an initial tail-tucked-between-his-legs as the other dogs gave him a sniff, he got into the whole idea of a dog park and was happily trotting around, greeting other dogs and giving people a sniff.

I was so proud of him. Not only did he not bark or growl, he didn't jump up on people. He also would stay out in front of us and would come back immediately when we called him. 

We spent a good hour, walking around the dog park path which goes around the outside edge of the park area. Slider trotted, sniffed, played a bit, and had a wonderful time. Needless to say, the ride back was a bit calmer and he came inside and 'died' after a nice dinner. 

The dog park trip was an experiment on my part. At 100 pounds and all muscle, if there were issues, I didn't want to be alone with him if there were issues. Having Texter and Mr. Cobra gave me a bit of security if something went wrong.

Luckily, everything was just fine and more trips to the dog park are in our future. Granted there is a park in my town, which is much, much closer, but by meeting up with them, I get to bit of 'family time' too. I think on weekends when we have Lady K and swap out with her, the park will be a great place to do it so she can play at the playground and Slider and I can walk.