1 00:00:05,750 --> 00:00:10,940 Welcome to Dog Parkology, a show that looks at the concept of dog parks 2 00:00:11,020 --> 00:00:15,429 through our relationship with dogs, with each other, and with the land. 3 00:00:21,270 --> 00:00:25,109 In the previous episode of the series, we explored how dog parks 4 00:00:25,130 --> 00:00:28,900 can build communities that are more tight knit, safer, and welcoming. 5 00:00:29,330 --> 00:00:33,679 The land we all share, our environment, is not always considered 6 00:00:33,829 --> 00:00:35,450 as much as it deserves to be. 7 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,949 Many people seem to have lost their excitement and appreciation for nature. 8 00:00:41,235 --> 00:00:42,475 We take it for granted. 9 00:00:42,925 --> 00:00:46,565 The constant pull of distractions from our devices has made it more of a 10 00:00:46,565 --> 00:00:48,705 challenge for people just to go outside. 11 00:00:49,474 --> 00:00:54,164 The digital age has presented endless ways to be tempted into virtual consumption. 12 00:00:54,545 --> 00:00:58,734 Whether it be social media, streaming services, online shopping, 13 00:00:58,825 --> 00:01:02,974 and more, the attention economy competes for every spare second. 14 00:01:03,555 --> 00:01:07,525 Even when we do go outside, it can be hard to focus on what's in front of us. 15 00:01:07,705 --> 00:01:10,975 We still might be distracted by fear of missing out on what's happening 16 00:01:10,985 --> 00:01:15,205 elsewhere, or just feeling like we're not being productive with our time. 17 00:01:16,235 --> 00:01:19,785 As our world has changed, we as humans have grown disconnected 18 00:01:19,785 --> 00:01:23,825 from the natural world, but the non human species around us, like our 19 00:01:23,825 --> 00:01:26,084 dogs, don't share our blind spots. 20 00:01:26,365 --> 00:01:29,885 And in this way, we can take a lesson from our dogs. 21 00:01:32,364 --> 00:01:37,205 I love being plugged into The communication of the natural 22 00:01:37,205 --> 00:01:40,664 world, the trees talking to the wind, and the wind talking to the 23 00:01:40,664 --> 00:01:43,925 birds, and the birds talking to my dog, and the dog talking to me. 24 00:01:44,205 --> 00:01:45,425 I'm part of that circle. 25 00:01:46,585 --> 00:01:49,824 This is outdoor writer Annette McGivney, who has found that 26 00:01:49,824 --> 00:01:53,695 dogs are a transformational key to unlocking our environment. 27 00:01:58,044 --> 00:02:02,155 Only for the most recent sliver of our species history 28 00:02:02,165 --> 00:02:03,725 have we been living indoors. 29 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:10,610 When I'm in nature, I'm actually plugging in epigenetically to what my body needs 30 00:02:10,610 --> 00:02:14,829 most and my nervous system needs most, even though we've forgotten about that. 31 00:02:17,050 --> 00:02:21,360 Humans, it seems like we're prone to disconnecting ourselves, 32 00:02:21,599 --> 00:02:22,990 even if we're in nature. 33 00:02:23,079 --> 00:02:27,540 You're not even noticing the beauty of where we are, you're just So 34 00:02:27,540 --> 00:02:31,400 in your head and totally caught up in talking to each other. 35 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:36,890 So having a dog with me helps to remind me how to enjoy nature. 36 00:02:37,350 --> 00:02:41,070 When you're with a dog, you're like, what is in those pine needles 37 00:02:41,230 --> 00:02:46,330 and look at that bird and that squirrel and what's over here. 38 00:02:46,699 --> 00:02:48,220 And so you're totally in the moment. 39 00:02:49,110 --> 00:02:53,170 I want to focus on the beauty and my dogs show me how to do that. 40 00:02:54,900 --> 00:02:57,995 When we are in nature with our dogs, We are the students 41 00:02:58,075 --> 00:02:59,675 and the dogs are the teachers. 42 00:03:00,135 --> 00:03:04,525 It's up to us to take the initiative to tap back into the natural world. 43 00:03:08,094 --> 00:03:12,734 For dog parkology, we are looking not only at officially designated 44 00:03:12,735 --> 00:03:15,465 dog parks, but a broader definition. 45 00:03:15,865 --> 00:03:19,484 Anytime you step outside your home with your dog, you have an opportunity to 46 00:03:19,484 --> 00:03:21,735 find points of connection along the way. 47 00:03:22,290 --> 00:03:26,160 Whether you're going for hikes in the woods or running on a beach, we're not 48 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:30,039 limited to the traditional fenced in areas as long as you're making sure 49 00:03:30,039 --> 00:03:34,450 to be responsible and respectful of others when having your dog off leash. 50 00:03:34,980 --> 00:03:38,480 These kinds of dog parkology moments can make you think about 51 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,500 your surroundings in a new way. 52 00:03:40,860 --> 00:03:42,810 Even when you're living in a major city. 53 00:03:44,530 --> 00:03:48,710 I think we have this concept of nature as being synonymous with 54 00:03:48,910 --> 00:03:52,109 grand, open, majestic spaces. 55 00:03:52,279 --> 00:03:55,040 You ask people to think of wilderness, and they think of 56 00:03:55,329 --> 00:03:58,340 Yosemite, and Yellowstone, and Zion. 57 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:03,735 You don't think of your garden or like the street around your house. 58 00:04:04,605 --> 00:04:06,075 There's wilderness there too. 59 00:04:07,054 --> 00:04:10,885 This is Ed Young, a British American science journalist, whose 60 00:04:10,885 --> 00:04:14,484 coverage of the pandemic in the Atlantic won him a Pulitzer Prize. 61 00:04:15,135 --> 00:04:18,964 Ed's recent book, An Immense World, examines the sensory 62 00:04:18,964 --> 00:04:20,344 realm of different animals. 63 00:04:20,814 --> 00:04:22,704 While writing the book, he got a new dog. 64 00:04:23,155 --> 00:04:26,974 The experience of having a canine companion helped Ed understand his work. 65 00:04:28,104 --> 00:04:29,655 My dog is a Corgi. 66 00:04:29,664 --> 00:04:30,604 His name is Typo. 67 00:04:30,655 --> 00:04:31,515 He's two years old. 68 00:04:31,890 --> 00:04:36,710 Whenever we go for walks, it's almost a sort of meditative experience. 69 00:04:36,969 --> 00:04:38,180 Typo likes to sniff. 70 00:04:38,500 --> 00:04:39,570 He likes to explore. 71 00:04:40,029 --> 00:04:45,820 Dogs use their nose to adventurously investigate the world around them. 72 00:04:46,540 --> 00:04:50,809 Every creature perceives the world in its own unique way. 73 00:04:51,135 --> 00:04:55,185 And that way might be very, very different from what we humans experience. 74 00:04:57,034 --> 00:05:01,284 I think a lot of dog owners, because of our tendency to anthropomorphize, see in 75 00:05:01,315 --> 00:05:02,815 their dogs a reflection of themselves. 76 00:05:03,275 --> 00:05:04,515 And that's totally fine. 77 00:05:04,695 --> 00:05:07,895 But I think that misses something profound. 78 00:05:08,565 --> 00:05:12,445 I know that Typo's experience of the world is not my own. 79 00:05:12,595 --> 00:05:14,565 I know he senses things very differently. 80 00:05:14,615 --> 00:05:17,835 He thinks about the world in a very different way. 81 00:05:18,465 --> 00:05:21,940 And I love leaning into that difference. 82 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:28,800 It makes me constantly curious about what he's thinking or what he's perceiving. 83 00:05:28,859 --> 00:05:30,580 Typo enriches my life. 84 00:05:30,580 --> 00:05:33,309 It makes me think about the world in a more spiritual way. 85 00:05:35,189 --> 00:05:39,789 A lot of my work is informed by these values of curiosity and empathy. 86 00:05:40,210 --> 00:05:44,410 I think both of these are muscles that you can learn to flex and, you know, 87 00:05:44,460 --> 00:05:48,740 thinking about Typo and the way he senses the world allows me to flex both of them. 88 00:05:48,820 --> 00:05:53,650 They think that through these informed imaginative leads, we 89 00:05:53,650 --> 00:06:00,879 can be closer to nature, even in our normal, everyday existence. 90 00:06:02,130 --> 00:06:05,590 While being out with Typo, who's able to recognize so many types of 91 00:06:05,669 --> 00:06:09,380 information through his nose with heightened perception, it has changed 92 00:06:09,390 --> 00:06:11,390 the way Ed looks at his environment. 93 00:06:11,969 --> 00:06:16,440 And I think that's important because if we don't feel that connection to nature, 94 00:06:16,900 --> 00:06:23,495 if we only think of it as a remote and distant thing that we might tap into on 95 00:06:23,495 --> 00:06:32,200 a once in a lifetime vacation, then We don't feel the impetus to care for it if 96 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,000 we don't feel a connection to something. 97 00:06:34,390 --> 00:06:38,270 I don't think we feel our responsibilities as stewards and guardians of it. 98 00:06:38,870 --> 00:06:43,320 And I hope that all of our interactions with the animals closest to us 99 00:06:43,339 --> 00:06:47,200 make us feel a little bit closer to the entire natural world. 100 00:06:51,130 --> 00:06:56,540 Even in the smallest details and moments, among trees, among plants, other animals, 101 00:06:56,789 --> 00:06:59,080 we then develop a greater sense of place. 102 00:06:59,669 --> 00:07:03,140 If we can bridge this gap to the living world, we can open our 103 00:07:03,140 --> 00:07:05,719 lives in new and unexpected ways. 104 00:07:07,830 --> 00:07:13,839 When lockdown happened in 2020, there was this mass re evaluation, I think 105 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:18,239 done by a lot of different people, about what is my relationship to this place? 106 00:07:19,140 --> 00:07:23,539 This is Anjali Rao, who we met in our last episode, an architectural 107 00:07:23,539 --> 00:07:27,189 journalist and critic whose work explores connections to land. 108 00:07:27,620 --> 00:07:29,589 We saw people leaving cities. 109 00:07:29,669 --> 00:07:32,750 deciding that the relationship that they had to the city was one of 110 00:07:32,750 --> 00:07:38,060 amenities characterized by access to museums and concerts and theater 111 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:43,310 and shopping and not necessarily by a relationship with the land itself. 112 00:07:45,050 --> 00:07:47,260 I did the re evaluation too, living in Chicago. 113 00:07:47,590 --> 00:07:52,450 I had my trusty 100 year old dog moving through the world with her 114 00:07:52,460 --> 00:07:54,140 in a way that could be slower. 115 00:07:54,380 --> 00:07:58,679 We could take longer walks and it was a different way of experiencing 116 00:07:58,679 --> 00:08:02,420 what it was like to even have an animal to reevaluate our relationship 117 00:08:02,570 --> 00:08:04,810 amongst an increasingly wilding world. 118 00:08:05,049 --> 00:08:10,330 What I found was a connection like observing unusual flowers and weeds 119 00:08:10,500 --> 00:08:14,550 that so often just get mowed over but were neglected during the pandemic. 120 00:08:14,599 --> 00:08:17,200 Those types of things re enchanted me with living here. 121 00:08:18,250 --> 00:08:22,360 It was Anjali who introduced us to the concept of re enchantment, which 122 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:24,380 inspired the theme of this episode. 123 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:31,240 Both Matthew Gandy and the essayist Jennifer Woolf write about this idea that 124 00:08:31,330 --> 00:08:35,889 through a different type of ecological relationship with land, we re enchant 125 00:08:35,919 --> 00:08:37,809 people with the city around them. 126 00:08:38,270 --> 00:08:41,770 People tend to see parkland as being productive when it's really 127 00:08:41,770 --> 00:08:46,130 well manicured, beautifully cultivated public gardens and parks. 128 00:08:46,665 --> 00:08:51,115 The kind of Eurocentric understanding of, we go to the gardens to be 129 00:08:51,115 --> 00:08:53,175 flinners and to look at people. 130 00:08:53,704 --> 00:08:57,874 Oftentimes, landscape architects, city officials, they think of productive 131 00:08:57,874 --> 00:09:02,464 in terms of an anthropocentric lens, that we center human experiences. 132 00:09:02,754 --> 00:09:07,085 They are productive because they give kids a place to hang out and sit in the shade. 133 00:09:07,365 --> 00:09:09,905 They're productive because they host family reunions. 134 00:09:10,275 --> 00:09:15,095 But a lot of parks also encourage all types of ecological urban life. 135 00:09:15,315 --> 00:09:19,035 They host wildlife like birds and foxes and possums. 136 00:09:19,355 --> 00:09:23,114 I bond with my neighbors when we see raccoons and skunks and everyone's 137 00:09:23,135 --> 00:09:28,115 screaming or running away or you're letting your little dog loose in this 138 00:09:28,115 --> 00:09:30,874 garden and chasing him around and letting him romp through the flowers. 139 00:09:31,470 --> 00:09:35,030 In Millennium Park in Chicago, there was a family of foxes that moved in. 140 00:09:35,260 --> 00:09:36,780 People were so excited. 141 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:39,670 It was too cute, just heartbreakers, all of them. 142 00:09:39,980 --> 00:09:43,530 We're so excited when this happens, and yet we do everything in our 143 00:09:43,530 --> 00:09:46,170 capacity to ensure that doesn't happen. 144 00:09:46,555 --> 00:09:51,895 And so when we think about the consequences of neglecting animals 145 00:09:52,035 --> 00:09:56,275 and the animal presence in our cities, there are so many benefits to thinking 146 00:09:56,285 --> 00:10:00,125 about dogs as being an intermediary between the more wild species. 147 00:10:01,175 --> 00:10:04,554 Dog parks can be a piece of public infrastructure that accommodates 148 00:10:04,555 --> 00:10:06,545 that idea of non human residents. 149 00:10:07,215 --> 00:10:11,625 This can bring out our greater empathy for our ecosystems and all living 150 00:10:11,635 --> 00:10:13,325 things with which we share them. 151 00:10:13,939 --> 00:10:19,209 Designing for non human species can be one of several mechanisms 152 00:10:19,209 --> 00:10:23,349 that can upend our extractive relationship with land and property. 153 00:10:23,780 --> 00:10:27,150 It's a way of removing ourselves from the conventional ways of 154 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:28,920 understanding what cities are for. 155 00:10:29,139 --> 00:10:31,119 It's actually reframing that completely. 156 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:36,420 It's this way of reorienting yourself in the world, understanding you're 157 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:38,380 a part of something much bigger. 158 00:10:38,700 --> 00:10:41,770 It's a moment of clarity and a moment of connection for a lot of people. 159 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:45,770 That isn't just like we need social spaces, but actually we need to have 160 00:10:45,770 --> 00:10:49,710 a totally different relationship with the land that houses us. 161 00:10:50,370 --> 00:10:54,960 Dog parks offer people a way to appreciate and connect with the 162 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:58,370 reality of your ecosystem in a way that is more meaningful. 163 00:10:59,035 --> 00:11:03,025 All of these things re enchant us with the places that we live and beckon us to 164 00:11:03,025 --> 00:11:05,705 love them and beckon us to care for them. 165 00:11:09,525 --> 00:11:12,735 We started this series with a historical mention of how the name 166 00:11:12,735 --> 00:11:16,485 of the first dog park in Berkeley paid tribute to the Ohlone tribe. 167 00:11:16,815 --> 00:11:18,505 who had been on the land originally. 168 00:11:21,125 --> 00:11:25,844 In Marion Schwartz's book, A History of Dogs in the Early Americas, she 169 00:11:25,844 --> 00:11:30,194 writes, Native Americans understood that even though dogs resided in 170 00:11:30,194 --> 00:11:34,145 the human camp, they had a close kinship with coyotes and wolves. 171 00:11:34,845 --> 00:11:39,365 Because of these relationships, dogs occupied and operated on several levels. 172 00:11:39,495 --> 00:11:43,645 They connected the wild and the tame, and they joined nature and culture. 173 00:11:45,910 --> 00:11:49,850 Dogs have a magical ability to remind us that we are part of the natural 174 00:11:49,860 --> 00:11:51,840 world and should strive to protect it. 175 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:57,290 Time with your dog at any type of dog park make us feel more connected to 176 00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:59,809 and accountable to the earth around us. 177 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:08,710 Thank you for listening to this episode of Dog Parkology. 178 00:12:09,149 --> 00:12:11,110 I'm Jenna Blum, your narrator. 179 00:12:11,149 --> 00:12:16,730 This show was created by As It Should Be Productions, the creators of Dog Save the 180 00:12:16,730 --> 00:12:22,980 People and Dog Walk Meditation podcasts, with executive producer Scott Benaglio. 181 00:12:23,050 --> 00:12:25,300 And producer and editor, Jack Summer. 182 00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:31,580 Be sure to check out the entire season of Dog Park Allergy by following 183 00:12:31,580 --> 00:12:36,380 the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. 184 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:41,860 You can follow us on social media at Dog Park and Dog Save the People. 185 00:12:42,410 --> 00:12:42,710 You can. 186 00:12:42,710 --> 00:12:47,260 Visit our website, dog park college.com to learn more about the show and to buy 187 00:12:47,260 --> 00:12:49,510 custom designed merch like our T-shirts. 188 00:12:50,220 --> 00:12:52,770 If you know of any great dog parks in your area. 189 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,680 or you've created your own dog parkology moment, you can email us 190 00:12:56,740 --> 00:12:59,230 at dogparkology at gmail dot com. 191 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:05,329 We'd love to hear about your experience, and if you've enjoyed listening to this 192 00:13:05,380 --> 00:13:07,810 episode, please share it with a friend. 193 00:13:08,510 --> 00:13:12,050 Enjoy a trip to a dog park today, or wherever you go with your dog, 194 00:13:12,380 --> 00:13:16,650 to appreciate nature, meet others, and make a better life together.