Fleet People’s Park- A Beginner’s Survival Guide
Eisley’s first trip to the dog park 7.26.10
1. Do not take your 6 month old pup-child to the dog park for the first time ever at 4pm in July. Today, the heat index was at a sizzling 99 degrees. Because of this I’ve decided to start a letter writing campaign to Washington petitioning for Florida’s slogan to be officially changed from “The Sunshine State” the “The Face of the Sun”. Yes I know children might be confused but come on, do we really want our children to grow up without learning how to decipher a well placed joke? What kind of world would that be? Expect my chain email shortly. If you don’t sign it and send it to 10 people your childhood crush will be abducted by aliens. Just kidding. But maybe not. Sign it.
2. When it’s 99 degrees outside and your dog is covered in black fur, don’t forget to bring your own water. You’ll get thirsty. (Just kidding! This is about the dogs, promise.) Even if you are going to a dog park that is half lake. Even if the dog park was well-designed and has doggie water fountains. Even if you think that your dog will drink water before passing out because, well, that makes sense right? Because you never know when your dog will go all Madonna on you and refuse to drink anything but bottled water poured into other dog’s water bowls. And she’d like all the walls painted yellow before she arrives. And only the pink colored kibbles. Kindly pick the rest out, by hand, but only your left hand. The queen has spoken!
3. There will be people there with disgusting dogs that are grossly un-groomed, dripping wet, covered in mud, and drooling uncontrollably. It’s not okay to shout “AH! Get away!” as they approach you and your liquid sensitive iphone (the dogs, not the people, although it’s equally inappropriate to say that when the people approach you as well). Apparently it is unspoken dog park code that you and your liquid sensitive iphone are disgusting dog drool fair game and you must smile politely and say, “Oh what a cutie!” or risk enraged glares from the owners of the disgusting dogs. (They know who they are.)
What about you? Any tips you’d like to add? How was your first dog park experience?
*Fleet People’s Park is by far the best dog park in Central Florida allowing dog owners to let their dogs run free in a completely gated area bordered by a large lake. If you have a dog, you should check it out. It’s like doggie Disney. ;)
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@Melissa I didn’t know about the leash thing. We will probably only be going on weekdays anyway as our weekends are usually all booked up. :)
Only thing with Fleet Peoples is they can’t run leash-free on holidays or weekends from I think 10-4. My suggestion would be to keep in mind that excitement leads to poor behavior (and unbalanced dogs a la Cesar Milan)… exercise your dog BEFORE going to the park and let the park be the reward, not the primary outlet for pent-up energy. I hear that the park in Sanford is really great too. These two are on the top of my list as parks to try next!
Hahaha I was cracking up at the “Face of the Sun” comment! It is so true! It has just been brutal this summer. I will definitely sign your petition ;) Glad to see you’re having fun with your new pup!
@Aunt Laura Oh no! The people at this park are all really awesome and keep an eye on their pups and break up any squabbles that happen pretty quickly. Sorry about Marley :( I’d love to bring her to visit. Maybe one day we’ll road trip out there. :)
She really looks like she is having a blast!!!! I love it when dogs can just be dogs!!! Glad you were able to find this park. We have a few here if you want to bring her here…. ;) LOVE YOU
I want you to come to Arizona and bring Eisley to play with Marley. Might I mention that Marley would love to have a photographer takes lots of pictures of her. My third, not first time at a dog park cost me $300.00 to have her eye taken care of. You will find that Eisley is not going to like it when other dogs come up to you for affection. Needless to say…..a not so nice dog hurt my baby girl. Momma was not happy….either was daddy after the vet bill. Marley has not been to the dog park since then.
Don’t forget the towels!! Budda loves the beach, but I hate the sand/saltwater he brings back in the car with him!! So I prep the car by covering the backseat with towels!! =) I’m gonna have the kids that hate to get dirty!! lol