So if it is not completely apparent yet, I decided to take my weekends back for myself! I try to do as many chores as I can within two hours of my weekend so I can dedicate the rest of my time for relaxing and playing with the dog. Especially with Kevin gone this last week Dolce has spent less time out of the crate playing during the middle of the day, and consequently I feel guilty. Yes I know she is fine and it is good for her to rest and gain security and independence in the crate, but none the less I feel guilty for leaving her while I go off to work. So I am trying to make the most of the time we have together. It has actually been working well. We run around and go on hikes, get her tired and socialized and we have quality time, and when I need to run quick errands I have been leaving her baby gated in the kitchen. I have been working our way up in the amount of time she spends in there to gradually get her used to it. First 15 minutes while I did yard work and put in a load of laundry, then 30 minutes while I walked over to Walgreen's, and finally this weekend an hour while I went grocery shopping. And (hopefully not jinxing it) she has been doing great.
Now that I have gotten completely off topic, back to my original post topic. I have been searching around for good places to take Dolce where she can get out, get exercise (hopefully off leash) and get some socialization. I feel like I have been hitting alot of dead ends. Either they are leash only and have water, so the dogs cant go in or they are off leash and don't have water! Well, I was talking with my neighbor this weekend who has a Great Dane and he was telling me all parks in Weston are off leash. Ok this was very helpful to know. I think I will be sticking to Weston parks from now on. Then on top of it he told me there is a park in Weston hidden down some little dead end, side street off of Route 117 not 10 minutes from our house with great trails and a pond, Cat Rock Park. Oh my God! I was so excited. Not only did I want to take Dolce out for some exercise somewhere other then Weston Reservoir (which is great, but I think Dolce was probably getting tired of it) but I have wanted a place I could take her to get her excited about water, with other dogs as motivation. So I called up Nancy and off we went. It was great. Lots of different trails to walk (that were shaded too), a brook, a pond and lots of other puppies.
![]() |
| The before and after photos of our hike. |
Well it was a slow and cautious beginning but after watching another dog run in after his ball 3 or 4 times Dolce started to follow him most of the way in to the water going a little further each time. I am so glad that other dogs running out to get their balls is good motivation for her. Despite my best efforts she will not retreive a ball from the water for me. She will run out to it but will then abandon it. We discovered this weekend that she wont return it because in order to get her mouth on it she must put her nose/mouth/face? into the water (even if only a little bit) and she just wont do it, doesn't like her face wet. Such a diva! Well as a result she hasnt reached a full swim yet (she is definitely nervous with water) but thats ok, we can try and work up to it since I am not sure how well her stubby little legs would keep her afloat anyhow. All in all it was a positive trip (minus the part where I had to yell at her for not coming when I attempted to call her away from traffic) and we're definitely excited to go back soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment