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The importance of dog parks as public spaces is undervalued. This narrative series will explore the current dog park paradigm and suggest improvements. This will be accomplished by discovering how dog parks strengthen our relationships with our dogs, neighbors, and the natural world around us.
This show is brought to you by As It Should Be Productions, the creators of the Dog Save The People and Dog Walk Meditation podcasts. The episodes are narrated by author Jenna Blum.
Welcome to Dog Parkology, a show that
looks at the concept of dog parks
through our relationship with dogs,
with each other, and with the land.
In our prologue, we explore
the creation of the first
official dog park in the world.
The Ohlone Dog Park was created to
address residents desires to let their
dogs off leash and have a space to play.
Since then, over a thousand
officially designated dog parks,
and counting, have blossomed.
I
think the intention of Dog Parks was to
create places that could invite dog people
to come and take their dogs off leash.
Every concept has to
start somewhere, right?
And then if it doesn't
evolve, it becomes outdated.
So how do we give dogs access to
freedom to off leash experiences?
This is Tina Patel, who runs the Dog Lando
Enrichment Center in Orlando, Florida.
I first started Dog Lando in 1999.
We have six acres and our
whole goal is to integrate dogs
into a naturalistic lifestyle.
For Tina, the question of how we might
reconsider dog parks ties to our larger
relationship with dogs in general.
Dog I never understood living
with animals in captivity.
I was born and raised in
Kenya, in East Africa.
And so my perception of living and living
amongst other forms of animals involved
allowing them to live with wilderness.
Our treatment towards them reflects how
we perceive them, how we think about them.
This really facilitates a very different
kind of relationship between human
and dog, especially in this Western
way of living with dogs where their
rights to freedom are really revoked.
Our laws prohibit us from taking our dogs
everywhere we go, taking them off leash.
We live a very compromised life.
lifestyle with dogs, and we
have to result to dog parks.
Dogs don't need fenced in areas as
much as people need fenced in areas.
Offer them any outdoor space.
I think that the idea of a dog park
gives people a sense of relief.
At least their dogs are contained.
But your dogs are contained at home.
Your dogs are contained
when you're walking them.
Around the neighborhood on a leash.
So why do we go to a dog
park to contain them?
Isn't a dog park to satiate
a different kind of need?
Through DogLando, Tina has
studied specialized parks.
She believes having many forms of
enrichment could provide great benefits.
I think our spaces need to be designed
with function, meaning with purpose.
There can be one park that is just
botanical, and the whole park would
be of plants and herbs and things that
dogs can eat, ingest, smell, to give
dogs an opportunity to access this.
Things that they should have
access to in their ecology, so
that they can function as a whole.
There are so many opportunities
we have now, understanding
from a design perspective, how
we should create dog parks.
Tina also feels that we, as humans,
need to be more involved at dog parks.
Many people can fall victim to
bringing their canines to a dog
park and thinking the job is done.
But that's missing the opportunity
for so much more growth and
enjoyment on both sides.
I see in kid playgrounds all
the time, the parent will come
with a child and say go play.
But a child wants a playmate.
A child wants somebody to play with him or
her on that swing and on this and on that.
And the parent, they're not
engaging, they're not interacting.
And I think the same about dog parks.
They notice somebody they know, and
they just form little huddles and they
start talking or sit down on a bench.
They're not engaging with
their dogs in this park.
My thought is, if we can't
enhance their intelligence,
then what do we have them for?
We're not protectives.
I know you think we are.
I'm more afraid of my dog not
having a life worth living.
Dogs don't go to a dog
park just to exercise.
They're going there and they are learning.
They're learning about people.
They're learning about dogs.
They're absorbing so much information.
If we want our dogs to have a more
meaningful experience than just
getting their zoomies out in a
plot of dirt, it requires a more
studied and concentrated effort.
That brings us to the
theme of this episode.
Guided play is a learning
concept and technique.
The general idea is to allow the
freedom to play with innate curiosity.
While the supervisor is on hand
to help gently steer the ship and
assist in the learning process.
Although guided play is a concept
typically applied to teaching children,
there are parallels to how we can look
at our personal time spent with our dogs.
Guided play also brings in an
objective, such as teaching awareness
and developing intellectual, social,
emotional, and physical skills.
And since play is naturally free and
joyous, there are positive emotional
connections in the learning process.
It's important to remember that
all dogs are not going to learn
or act the same, just like with
differences among kids in a classroom.
Every year, somebody will call me and
the guardian will say, you need to
come out and meet with me and my dog.
Cause my dog hates going to the dog park.
This is Camille Ward, a certified animal
behaviorist who works with dogs and humans
in her community of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
And then I'll question
them a little bit more.
Is your dog aggressive to other dogs?
Is your dog able to be around other dogs?
Are you able to walk your dog?
How does your dog respond
when he meets another dog?
And a lot of times people will
say, All of that's fine, he just
doesn't do well at the dog park.
He gets really stressed and he
picks fights, and he should enjoy
going to the dog park, right?
And I have to tell people, No,
there's nothing wrong with your dog.
A big step in choosing the right space for
your dog is really looking at it through
the dog's perspective and personality.
I think we misunderstand dogs a lot.
We label them a stubborn or they
don't get something right away.
They're not very smart.
All these human terms
that we use sometimes.
to describe the dog when we're frustrated.
Your dog is somebody who may not
like going to a big loud party or
a karaoke bar, or they do better
one on one or with maybe a few
close dog friends, but that's okay.
There's nothing wrong with your dog.
That's his or her preference.
Camille herself has had different
experiences with her canine companions.
Over the years, I've had many dogs.
Marty, my first dog as an adult, the
Yellow Lab, he loved the dog park.
Everyone was a friend he hadn't met
yet, and he was the quintessential
dog that should go to a dog park.
But I see a lot of dogs at dog parks
who are just managing the environment.
They're not necessarily
loving it, but they're coping.
And so I always try to impart to
owners, if your dog's not having fun,
then maybe you shouldn't be going.
Maybe you should be doing other
activities that you like with your dog.
Maybe your dog prefers to go and do
agility or go on long hikes or do
sniff or scent classes or nose work.
So really looking at your
dog as an individual.
rather than who you
think your dog should be.
Through observing these interactions, we
can start to better understand our dog's
personalities, strengths, and weaknesses.
In order to truly find the solution that's
best for your dog, you have to remember
to reserve expectations or judgments
on their behavior and preferences.
Let them speak to you with
their actions and reactions.
What we thought at first was
that Edie had puppy fear.
This is Meredith May, the author
of Loving Edie, How a Dog Afraid of
Everything Taught Me to be Brave.
I wanted to be able to
have my fun dog life back.
I didn't sign up for this.
What's the point of a dog that can't
move through the world with you?
Meredith's past experience with Golden
Retrievers had led her to believe that
all dogs of that breed would be well
behaved and the life of the party.
However, when she got her Golden
Retriever, Edie, that was not the case.
Edie was too scared to interact
with other dogs, even hiding in
the corner at a group play date.
It got to a point where Edie couldn't
even walk on a city sidewalk, she'd
get scared and have panic attacks, and
her fight or flight was off the charts.
And I also thought, I've trained
two wonderful golden retrievers,
what am I doing wrong with this one?
Like, I'd somehow lost my mojo.
Meredith and her wife, Jen,
tried to figure out what to do.
They sought out a specialist who sat
them down and gave them a reality check.
Saying they had to be more conscious
and considerate of how they planned
their daily life with this dog.
It was through that process that
Meredith started to reverse engineer her
thinking around who Edie actually is.
She realized she needed to put
her breed expectations aside
and put Edie's needs first.
Meredith and Jen decided the
city was too much stimulation for
Edie, so they moved to a mountain
area with a rural, winding road.
Once there, with more space and calmness,
Edie was able to come alive and thrive.
We live 1, 800 feet up on a
mountain, but the beautiful thing
is she's really come alive here.
She can do a lot of things now
that she couldn't do before,
just given the solitude and the
time to think about it and relax.
And so have we.
I am so glad my dog is
teaching me what slow means.
It's something I have
struggled with my whole life.
No longer feel the need to pace.
Push this dog to be the dog that I
felt I was somehow cheated out of.
Geez, Edie for a reason.
We need to view every dog as
their own individual personality.
And when we do our bonds
can grow even closer.
Another factor that can amplify
and assist in that process is the
design and setup of the dog park.
You're going to, to embrace these
opportunities for play or learning.
for bonding.
My whole idea with dog parks was let's
create a dog park for dogs and people.
Not, let's put up a fence
and call it a dog park.
This is landscape architect Leslie
Lau, founder of Bear Grass Landscape
Architecture, who designed the five
acre Hugh Rogers Wag Park in Montana.
I grew up in Canada.
From day one, I was
outdoors, hiking, fishing.
Backpacking.
And I had friends with a German
shepherd and the German shepherd.
I went everywhere with that dog.
We went fly fishing.
I think it just cemented that I love dots.
And that was really the start of it.
Since then I've had 25 years of
having wire haired pointy Griffons.
So, it really got me involved
in agility, in obedience, and
because I have hunting dogs, they
are in the outdoors all the time.
And they love water, they love
ponds, they like all surfaces.
So I really wanted to design a
park that would engage dogs, get
them interested in exploring and
learning and trying new things.
I think when you do that with a park,
then you have a lot less conflicts.
If you have a large enough space
and you give them options to explore
different stuff, then play becomes
much more prevalent, exploring
becomes much more prevalent.
Not having anything for dogs to do, just
a piece of lawn and calling it a dog park,
I think it's really a huge disservice.
When a dog park is set up with
activities or ways for the dogs to
play together, the humans can even
join in and be part of the experience.
We're trying to create a bond between the
person and the animal, instead of just
being static, just standing there talking
while the dogs play with another dog.
Yeah, it's a part of it, but
it's a minimal part of it.
I start thinking about what
natural amenities are there.
Is there a great area for a walking trail?
Is there water?
Do we want water?
Can we bring in water?
Do I need shade structures?
How does the community
want to utilize the park?
Leslie shared some
examples of her approach.
I came to Whitefish, Montana
and started to work on Whitefish
Animal Group's Wag Dog Park.
I provide two beaches.
So that both small dogs or puppies
could use one quiet beach off to
the end and then an area that I set
up huge rocks as an amphitheater.
So, one, it keeps the gravel from
sliding into the pond and two, it
just became a play area for people
to sit on, for dogs to sit on.
That's just one element.
So another element is a whole
creek area and sometimes it has
water, it's got trees, it's shady.
Okay.
Then there's an obstacle area
that allows that interaction.
And so when we see that cooperation
between the owner and the dog
to be empathetic, to take care
of that animal, to treat that
animal with respect, it's awesome.
We want that to be a healthy bond.
Really what drives me is just seeing
happy dogs, people with their dogs.
And that to me is the biggest reward.
These types of parks can facilitate
opportunities for all kinds of activities.
From a simple game of
fetch to agility exercises.
Our dogs spend a lot of time inside
and they can always use more to satiate
their appetite for play and engagement.
It's our responsibility as they're
humans to give them that opportunity.
Through using the tool and approach
of guided play, we can provide a
more complete and tailored sense of
enrichment for our furry best friends.
Thank you for listening to
this episode of dog parkology.
I'm Jenna Blum, your narrator.
This show is was created by, as it
should be productions, the creators
of dog, save the people and dog
walk meditation podcasts with
executive producer, Scott Benalio
and producer and editor Jack summer.
Be sure to check out the entire
season of dog parkology by following
the show on Apple podcasts, Spotify,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can follow us on social
media at dog parkology.
You can visit our website, dogparkology.
com, to learn more about the
show and to buy custom designed
merch, like our t shirts.
If you know of any great dog parks in
your area, or you've created your own
dog parkology moment, you can email
us at dogparkology at gmail dot com.
We'd love to hear about your
experience, and if you've enjoyed
listening Listening to this episode,
please share it with a friend.
Enjoy a trip to a dog park today
or wherever you go with your dog
to appreciate nature, meet others,
and make a better life together.