Dog Park Heaven

Lucy and I lef the hotel room around 7:45 AM today to head west (one exit west on I-80 to be precise) and try out Iowa City's own dog park. The description of the park on the website I found sounded too good to be true -- 16 acres of fenced in grass, a small dogs area, an agility course, a pond, and even biodegradable poop bags for environmentally-friendly crapping.

When we arrived not ten minutes later at the very end of a seemingly endless road, I was pleased to see that the park lived up to description. Sadly I did not bring the camera on this trip (otherwise you would also have pictures of Lucy's tail or snout sticking out from under a king-sized bed), so I will have to describe the place in all its wonderment. The entrance to the dog park is ideal -- two double-gated entries. One for entering and one for exiting. For anyone who has ever almost or altogether lost their dogs in the exchange of leaving a dog park, you can imagine how exciting this is. There is a fee to use the park. Something like $100 a year for an annual pass or $5 a day for daily passes. Given that Lucy is spending her days in a hotel room holed up under the bed, $5 seemed reasonable. There's a little envelope you fill out and deposit your money in, and then you have a card with the corresponding number to show you've paid should a city official come by inquiring (if you've ever been hiking at an out-of-the-way trailhead, this should sound familiar). No one did, but since I'm a by-the-rules kind of girl, I didn't hestitate in paying the money. To the right of the main lot is the small dog area and to the left is the agility course. The pond, with its own gate, is at the back of the lot. There's a jogging path around the park so that visitors can exercise while their dogs are playing. There are various benches around, lots of trashcans, and some young trees protected from voracious dog-markers with some netting. All around the park are little green biodegradable bags. After you bag your dog's poop, you take it to the front of the park where you send the nasty little goody down a pipe to a landfill where it can all rot together. I was impressed to see that in a dog park so large, I didn't see one old pud sitting around.

There were no other dogs when we arrived, so I chased Lucy around the park myself a bit to help her realize she was off-leash. Her idea of a good time includes a lot of sniffing, though, so there was no serious running until some other dogs arrived. I was kind of glad it happened this way since it gave her a chance to acclimate before other dogs arrived. There were only two times while we were there that she seemed a bit aggressive or let out a less than friendly bark. As far as I can tell, though, she seems to do it when she's been playing or being chased and doesn't want to play or be chased anymore. If the dogs don't leave her alone, she gets a little growly to tell them what's what. Not a nice way to do it, but at least it seems like she's not just become a devil dog. I think the fact that the park was away from loud noises, like all the trains in Chicago, and so large made it easier. Even in the Grant Park dog park, which is one of the largest in the city, it's hard to get away from other dogs if she wants to sniff or play alone. She did take a shine to one or two others dogs and kind of followed them around. And she did have 5 or so minutes of full-on chasing. By the time I put her in the car an hour later (she was standing around grazing on the grass at this point, so I decided it was time to go), the tongue was out and hanging to the side, and she looked exhausted. She ate and drank some water when we got home, but other than that, she just collapsed under the bed for her midday nap.

I think we'll definitely go back to the park this afternoon or tomorrow morning. While I don't mind walking or jogging with her for an hour in the morning, I imagine this is more fun for her.