13 May 2011

{13may2011: new park}


The other week I ran a bunch of errands and decided to take Darwin to a new park. We tend to go to the same parks so I thought I'd see if we could find a new one to add to our list. We stopped at Jose Rizal Park in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, just south of downtown Seattle. As I pulled up the park I pulled out my phone and read a review about how it's a nice park but seems underutilized and garbage from transients laying around. Uhhhhh.... I got a little nervous, because I'm a little scaredy cat sometimes and worry about being attacked, or mugged, or rapped. (I won't take Darwin on the trail near our house by myself even in the daytime because we've seen tents and know homeless people hang out there, even though I've seen other ladies walk/run their dog through that area.) Even though Darwin's a big dog and I'd assume most people would be wary of her size alone, she's a bigger scaredy cat than me and I think if someone ran out and jumped me, she'd run away barking. hahaha.
Anyway, back to the park. As I was sitting in the car contemplating I saw a girl and her dog walk in so I figured it had to be ok (it was the middle of the day, on a week day). We entered the gates and from there you have to walk down a curvy path to a smaller open grass area. It had been raining a lot that week so it was pretty muddy, but Darwin loves the mud so she had fun. She got a little playtime in with the dog we followed in and another pittie that showed up, but other than that there were no other dogs (or people) there. It's a smaller park just off the freeway, but it had a great view of the city.
It was fun to check out someplace new, but I don't think we'll be adding that park to our list of regular stops, just not enough activity or space for a big girl like Darwin.

6 comments:

  1. You might be surprised at Darwin's reaction if anyone threatened you, especially now that she's closer to being an adult dog. Mama always found that while her Danes were not very protective of property, by 18 months they were quite protective of family. That said, sounds like a good idea to avoid the risk.

    Enjoyed the spin training. Is Darwin entering Honey's contest? We're hoping for a HUGE participation from the true Big Dogs - Danes, Mastiffs, Newfs, etc.

    Jed & Abby

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  2. Well... if you hadn't checked it out, you'd always wonder!
    And really, you're smart to be careful! Safety first!
    Play bows,
    SGT Zim

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  3. Oh, I'm just like you! A total scaredy-cat and Wary Mary about anything potentially risky or dangerous!! And yeah - you're so right about Danes not being the best protectors! I think Honey would probably try to hop up into my arms - a la Scooby-Doo - if we were ever attacked - ha! ha! Luckily, her sheer size usually makes people think twice - and I think her heavy jowls give her quite a serious, possibly menacing expression (even though she is probably just blankly 'duh' inside ha! ha!) - so people are respectful!

    I do think it's location, though. Back in Auckland, which was very safe and hardly any homeless people, I didn't have many qualms about taking Honey to most places, even at night - but since moving to Australia, I'm a lot more wary and a lot less adventurous! :-)

    Hsin-Yi

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  4. I agree with Jed & Abby. I think your dog's protectiveness will come out once she sees you being threatened or in danger.

    Your dog has a nice built by the way :)

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  5. I'm probably really bad - I rely on Grady's size and appearance to protect me, even though he's a big wuss!

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  6. Hehe - I'm quite the same - even though Lincoln is very protective and starts acting weird when there's someone rushing to us that he does not "like".
    We don't know why but while he will be very happy to meet someone new, then suddenly he will meet someone that he does not "like", this is like a 6th sence maybe. So now whenever we meet someone that Lincoln does not seem happy to meet, then we start thinking " what's wrong with that man/woman ? he's so weird...." even though we would probably never have thought that if Lincoln had not been with us. haha. Anyway, the view of the city is great and the picture of Darwin is gorgeous too. She sure is an handsome girl.

    ps : thanks a lot for the comment on my trouble boy post!

    Love,
    Lincoln

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