Walking, walking, walking

We've had a problem recently.  There is a new housing development going up around our normal dog park, and this had made it largely inaccessible to us.  We love that park.  It isn't well kept, but it's natural and has plenty of room, bush, and water to play in.  It's a LOT quieter than the other parks, as it is on the very edge of the city and isn't well fenced.

The other dog parks in the city tend to be overcrowded, and just aren't preferable for Epic and Dixie.  We've been taking Bailey and Legend this last week, because they can handle the crowds.

Side note: Today a pair of rammy dogs were hounding the puppy, and eventually sent him running in fear, and rolled him.  I was there to help him out (along with another dog we were walking with), while the other owners half-heartedly tried to call their dogs off from a distance.  SIGH.

As Legend has been getting quite a bit of special time lately, I took Epic for a leash walk this afternoon. I can probably count on one hand how many decent leash walks he gets in a month, as he is kept busy with other pursuits.  When I do take him out, it's usually just to the little park beside our house, where we kick around for 20 minutes.

So today I grabbed a long line and we made the 5 block journey to the *big* park.  This park covers a large piece of land, from 33rd St. up to the railway tracks along Circle.  It is under-utilized, because it's often too wet to mow properly.

Epic and I don't care.  We spent almost an hour exploring.  He chased ducks out of the slough and looked for mice in the tall grass.  He ran snapping after dragonflies, and zooming down rabbit paths.  Then we happened to wander to the other side of a stand of trees, and we found ourselves in-between the chain-link fence protecting the tracks, and the berm designed to block the train noise for local residents.

This little slice of park was empty, untouched, and extended for miles.

And for a little while, it was ours, and ours alone.