Did you say we're going to the dog run, daddy?

Do you believe in the bad omen about Friday the 13th? No? Well neither did I until on Friday (2/13/98) when we went to the Mitchell Park dog run (Palo Alto, California). There were still a few puddles from the recent visit of El Niño. When we first got to the dog run, Maggie had a good time playing with a few of her friends. Then she got bored and started meandering around the dog run smelling the grass and soil wet from the recent rains. Then she had an evil thought and she started to test the viscosity of the muddy water in one of the deeper puddles in the dog run. She proceeded so rapidly with her analysis of the texture of the mud that I realized it was hopeless to stop her. I thought that I could just rinse her off when we got home. Then she really got into the puddle and soon she had mud around her snout. The only course left at that point to restore her status of beloved pet doggie was a full bath. So much for the renovation of Mitchell Park dog run that closed the dog run last winter.

News Flash----The switch to decomposed granite for the surface means NO puddles (OK, puddles have shorter life times). Can you live with that? More on puddles here.

Note the Hoover school is using OUR parking lot so if you come at 9 AM, you may not find parking --so park at the tennis courts--enter from Middlefield.

Map to Maggie's Favorite Spot

 

Warning: before you take your dog to a dog run especially Mitchell Park there are some human character flaws you should be aware of. That is, most people have different ideas about what constitutes good or appropriate dog-dog behavior. Premise: dogs were bred to be forever puppies and therefore have no higher thought than to play with other dogs. OK, most young dogs can tell that an older dog will usually not make a good playmate. They probably can tell by behavior or scent. Older dogs undoublabtly have a different odor finger print than young dogs.

Democracy is a human social concept that has no place in the world of dogs. Their structure of relationships is based entirely on pack heirarcy as they carry the same hard wiring of their ancestors the wolf. Whenever two dogs meet they establish a hierarchical status through means invisible to us. Most of it is visible through posturing but not entirely..Bottom line is that they do this by actions that can be judged as aggressive by our peaceful social intercourse. They never use guns or knives, however. So when we use our logic and anthropomorhisize dog behavior, we are almost always wrong. Premise: dogs don't care who's on top just as long as they play. When dogs are very young puppies with sharp baby teeth they learn just how much jaw pressure to apply without causing pain in their playmates--unlike Mike Tyson, et al.

Well, today (1/26/99) Tiger was playing with another dog and Maggie being possessive went after Tiger to claim him as her playmate. Well, the owner of the dog that Tiger was playing with yelled at Maggie to stop as she wanted Tiger to play with her dog. Then Tiger, free of Maggie's hindrance, went on to hold her dog down by the neck. Her dog evidenced no audible indifference. Nevertheless, the women went ballistic and kicked Tiger to make him stop nibbling on her dogs neck. When I pointed out that she could have grabbed Tiger's harness she replied that to do so might have put her hand in jeopardy of Tiger's teeth. Nevertheless she thought that kicking a defenseless animal and committing animal abuse was more appropriate. Sheesh. Also, if you have a small dog it is inappropriate to take such an animal to a dog run with full sized dogs as they regard small dogs as prey. Here is a list of parks that have small dog enclosures..

Belmont dog park at Cipriani School

Foster City Dog Park

Mountain View Dog Park

Redwood Shores Dog Park

Seal Point Dog Park in Shoreline Park. (has the largest little dog psrk on the peninsula

 Small dog owners, etc. when you bring small meek dogs in with large dogs (60 pounds or more) into a dog run there is a definite risk of confrontation with the resultant bad feelings in all.Dogs are derived from wolves and will attack small dogs, specially three legged or other obvious problems like blind dogs. If your dog fits this bill, you need to stay on the side lines NOT in the middle of a bunch of big dogs. Be prepaired to instantly to scoop your dog up out of the way of a bunch of heavy dog play. There is the additional risk of a large dog accidently falling on a small dogs and causing fatal injuries to the small dog from crushed lungs from a 120 pound golden. This happened at a dog park elswhere in the USA but it can happen at any dog park where big an small dogs mix..

 

 

 

 

 

last change---4/28/2007