A Pleasant Day ...

The Halifax area is blessed with a number of wonderful parks.  Unlike my old home in Peterborough which is positively "anti-dog"*, Halifax is quite dog-friendly.

This morning I took Wendy for a walk to Point Pleasant Park.  I'd just dropped Kait off a dog groomers where she is going to learn the grooming business and it was early morning.  It was only my second visit to the park.  In an earlier Blog I mentioned the many and wonderful off leash trails and the devastating legacy of Hurricaine Juan in 2003.

Today I discovered something more.

The southern tip of the park which faces McNabs Island and the ocean beyond, is off limits to dogs (either on or off leash) after 10 am. 

But before 10 ... Well that's another matter.

After a delightful walk on the trails, Wendy and I stumbled across a HUGE group of dogs and their owners just hanging around in the open grassy area by the shore.  There must have been 20 dogs at least.  There were: three or four Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers (a very popular dog here),  a whippit, a lab or two, a German Shepherd, Jack Russells, a couple of Valley Bulldogs (a local breed that looks like a cross between a Bulldog and a Boxer) and some others I've forgotten.  They were running back and forth.  Some were playing with each other.  Others were chasing frisbees or balls.

Wendy was not happy with me because I had not brought her ball.  So she'd run off and find other dog folk to play with.

With all these dogs mixed together there was not one single incident of growling or scrapping. 

This is a wonderful opporunity for Sooki to learn to socialize with other dogs.  This group gets together at 9 am every day and I'm going to take Sooki next time so she can hve a good play and engage in lots of bum sniffing ! 

For one hour the group just stood about and chatted while the dogs romped around.

Just before 10 am we all went our separate ways. 



* There is no where in Peterborough outside your own backyard where you may have your dog off leash.  NO WHERE.   And then don't forget the BSL (Breed Specifical Legistation) in Ontario, which bans any pit bull type dog.  That would be a dog that LOOKS like a pit bull can be seized and destroyed.  The onus is on the owner to prove that there isn't one drop of pit bull blood in its lineage.