*Athena’s Corner*: Paws and Play – My Dog Park Discovery

Hello Furends, Athena here!! It’s so lovely to be back with you guys. You might be wondering why Pawz and Prose went on a brief hiatus last week… well, I did too! I asked Mom and she told me we were taking a break for the week to celebrate something called “Labor Day”. After she explained to me a little bit more about the holiday, it made sense that we would allow all of you, our furends and lovelies, to spend the day relaxing and making memories (and of course, Mommy and I did too). All this to say, we here at Pawz and Prose hope you had a lovely and safe Labor Day celebration!

With that said, we’re happy to be back and rolling with another fun topic for you all. If you’ve been following us, you’ll remember that, before our holiday hiatus, Mom shared with you her point of view of my first visit to the dog park. Now, I’m here to bring you MY perspective as the fur-baby/fur-princess with this first fun experience (*Ahem* yes Mommy, I’m still the muse of this blog, LOL).

As Mom has explained before, since I am an only doggo, I can be quite introverted and nervous at times. This is true even despite my hoomans taking me out for walks and out with them on their day-to-day adventures. Well, one weekend, I saw Mom getting ready… as usual, but I figured it was to go out on one of our normal walks around the neighborhood. Turns out, she was feeling a little bit down and she thought a big pick-me-up for her would be experiencing something new with me for the first time. I saw her on her cellphone which, to me, confirmed that this was going to be a true adventure! I was right; however, I had no idea what exactly that “something” was. She kept mentioning something about a “dog park”, which sort of piqued my interest despite having no idea what that meant. As usual, I was called downstairs, put in my harness and leash, and instructed to hop on in the car. Fortunately for me, the ride was SUPER short…I’m usually not very fond of car rides (I’ll bear them but they’re not my favorite). It seemed like it took longer to get me ready than for us to get to this so-called “dog park”. When we got there, I’m not going to lie… I was a little hesitant about where they’d brought me as there were new smells and new sights everywhere.

We got to the park fence which split the park in two. Mom said we had to go into the left side of the park because it was the area for “small” doggos like me (who you calling small momma? Not like you’re 6 foot yourself… JK! Love you! 🐶). We got inside and, not gonna lie, for a few minutes I had NO idea what to think of this place. I know my all my 4-legged furends out there will understand me when I say that it’s important to scope out EVERY inch of a new place before it can be trusted and that’s exactly what I was determined to do. I stayed VERY close to my hoomans as well as I know that it is my role as the family guard pup to also ensure their safety (yes, grandpa joined momma and I on this adventure). When we walked in, I was happy mommy kept me on my leash and did a round with me so that I could safely inspect the area. I ensured all our safety as we found a bench to call ours and I guarded it with my life by sitting on the ground in front of them. Ok, Ok… so in all honesty I was TERRIFIED. I was keeping my eyes, ears, and nose open to what this new place was and taking a hot minute to process it all. Plus, it was also a very warm summer’s day which was another good reason to stay in the shade a bit longer. As I was sitting there, I saw a lot of other 4-legged furends who apparently had been in this place living their best doggie life. They were barking amongst each other, following each other, and running around chasing toys. I wanted to join in but… again, I had to make sure it was safe to do so (*Ahem* more like fearing for my life Ahem). One of the doggos, a corgi, came up to me and started saying “hello” to me with a usual sniff of my bum and it was with him that I started coming out of my shell. I played with him for a bit, following him around the park and even joining in with the other small group of furends that were towards the other end of the fence. It was with this first pawsitive interaction and with mommy walking with me on the grass that I started getting my dog-park paws and feeling more comfortable in my surroundings. I could see Mommy was getting happy and her smile grew bigger as became more comfortable in my environment, and I wanted to keep making her proud. It was also nice to hear Mommy call me the “goodest girl” every time I went back to her for a minute of shade and to get some brief scritches from her. It was at this moment that I knew this place was not bad at all! In fact, I started hoping I would be able to come here more often as the furends I started making and their hoomans all seemed pretty cool to be around.

My wish came true as mommy and grandpa brought me back to the park that entire weekend and the weekend after! As an only doggo, I can’t express how important it is for us to have these fun memories, this socialization, and this fun external stimulation. I know mommy was nervous about taking me to a new place only because sometimes I am weary of new places and furends; however, this is exactly the reason why it was important for me to experience this. In these few visits that I’ve been able to have at the dog park, I’m slowly learning to make more furends while also getting rid of that excess energy that I rack up from being at home. I encourage ALL hoomans to also take their 4-legged fur babies, whether fully socialized or not, to dog parks and on new adventures. I know Mommy explained how, for her, it was a great experience seeing this new adventure through my eyes, but for me, it was also special in so many ways… I am still dreaming about these few visits I’ve had, and I can’t wait for all the other visits that are to come! I’m ready to back and bark, play, and run until my heart’s content once again.

Until the next one Furends!

XOXO Athena 🐶❤️ XOXO