About once a week, we like to take Winston to a dog park so he can run and wrestle with other dogs and play “chase me.” We usually go to Magnuson Park because it has a nice area exclusively for small or shy dogs. Big dogs and Winston are a big concern for us. He’s small, fast and basically not afraid of big dogs, but we’re told being small and fast can trigger a big dog’s predation instinct.
However, Magnuson Park is about a half hour drive from home, and Shoreline has an off-leash area much, much closer. Last Saturday, we decided to check it out. It’s tucked behind Shoreline Community College, and has a quite large fenced in area. It’s pretty nice. Except for the small dog, shy dog area, which is a small, dirty, barren fenced in area about the size of grocery bag. Insert disappointment here.
But as long as we were there, we decided to let him play in the big dog area. He immediately found a nice, medium sized friend to play with and they did great for a while, racing all over and rough housing. Then a young couple whose foolish grins flashed cluelessness, decided it would be fun to take their adolescent, untrained pit bull off its leash. Of course, it went straight for Winston and started worrying him and made him yelp. Winston responded by turning around and taking off after the pit bull, barking and growling. He was giving him what-for. Peggy said, “I want to leave now.” But the young couple leashed their dog back up, and we let Winston continue to play with his new friend. Then Mr. and Mrs. Clueless decided to let the pit bull back off its leash, and it went right for Winston again, biting him and horrifying us, but once more Winston wasn’t going to back down. After much shouting by us and barking by the dogs, the young couple packed up their dog and slunk off. Take it to training!
The next day, after church, we took Winston back to Magnuson Park. The weather was gorgeous, and there were lots of fun, well-behaved dogs in the small dog area, all with concerned, well trained masters. Winston ran and wrestled and played “chase me” until he was worn out. It’s fun to watch Winston run. He really takes off in a blaze, tail sticking straight out behind, a master of speed and broken-field running.
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