Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the ninth day of the month is "Location."
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There's a sign on the fence that says No Dogs Allowed. Of course, I ignore the sign and let her run.
It's a football field surrounded by a running track that has never been used for that purpose since we've lived here. It's behind the junior high school and if kids aren't in school, I just let her loose to run around and around and around.
So that's where we were yesterday morning, Hannah losing her mind over all the smells that have been released now that the snow has melted, me listening to "In Da Club" followed by "Hey Jude" in a very strange Spotify playlist I'll talk more about later.
Dr. BB read somewhere that people in their 40s should be walking backwards as an exercise, so sometimes I will walk backwards on the track while keeping my eyes on what she's doing. While I will ignore the No Dogs Allowed sign, I will not allow her to do damage to anything. Walking backwards for a long distance is kind of hard.
Do you have a secret location where you let your dog off leash in violation of clearly posted rules?
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To see what Bestest Friend has to say about location, go visit her at Too Legit to Quit.
I, too, have read that about people in their 40s! I'm neither brave nor coordinated enough to try on the treadmill (as I've seen others do), but have added that and some balance work into my weeks recently.
ReplyDeleteMy dog is afraid of any outdoor space besides our backyard, but I can tell she feels like she's getting away with something when we let her run off leash!
I can see walking backwards as being really dangerous on a treadmill! The track is really the only place I feel comfortable doing it because I know there's nothing behind me. Also, there's no ice or snow here right now, so the weather made me more comfortable trying it.
DeleteI don't have a dog, but I would totally do this if I did. It's not like the field is being used- Hannah might as well enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has been walking backwards a little- I can see how it would be good to work all the opposite muscles from the ones we use constantly. The track is a good place to do it.
I was surprised at how hard walking backwards was! I mean, it's not bad for the first few steps, but if you're trying to walk 20-30 yards, it's a real challenge on balance.
DeleteI don't have a go-to place where I feel good about letting my dog off leash, apart from our unfenced yard. But if we had a place like your track I would totally break the rules!
ReplyDeleteI am hesitant to let Hannah off leash in our yard because she has chased squirrels into our neighbor's yard before and we're relatively close to the street, so I'm nervous about that. If she could be trusted in the yard, I'd love to let her off leash there more often.
DeleteI am far too much of a Rule Follower to ignore a sign like that (if I had a dog). It must be the teacher in me, yet I was always a Rule Follower as a child, too. I do try to be more of a rebel when I can. I'm sure the proprietors of the field are just concerned with what some irresponsible dog owners may leave behind.
ReplyDeleteThe walking backwards thing--I read about it as well, but don't think I'd better try it, at least not on my walks around here. I'd be down in a flash.
As soon as we got a dog, I became an absolute rule breaker. Traditionally, I always think rules are there for a reason, but once we adopted Hannah, I became the sort of person who ignores all bans on dogs, particularly if no one else is using the space. If there's someone else using this track or this field, I will not let Hannah loose, but I feel sort of like Jenny that if no one else is using it, why shouldn't she? Someday we'll probably get in trouble and told not to come back, but until then, I'm just going to pretend I didn't see the sign that I obviously saw.
DeleteI am a Rule Follower, so I wouldn't be able to do it. BUT I would feel really grumpy about it, because as you point out it is always empty and not used for any real purpose, so why SHOULDN'T it be a dog friendly field? Dumb rules make me very cranky and yet I do follow them because I have some sort of inherent terror of getting in trouble. (Like, what kind of trouble? Someone coming in and saying, "Hey, by the way, dogs aren't allowed here! Keep that in mind next time!" Absolutely terrifying to me.)
ReplyDeleteI am very interested to know more about this playlist, and about the walking backwards thing. Since I am in that age group, I should probably try to get on board... but I am not the most coordinated of people, so I anticipate a lot of falling.
I was a rules follower until I got this dog and desperately needed someplace to let her be a dog. There's a lovely dog park here and I should take her to more often, but that's a production in which we have to get her in the car and drive and I like that this is close. I mean, maybe we'll get in trouble someday, but I guess I can't worry about that now!
DeleteI only have let my dogs off leash in off leash areas, so I guess my answer is no! I have a playlist called Nicole Karaoke, and the music is very, um, eclectic. Sounds like it could be like your playlist! Kendrick Lamar plus Gladys Knight plus the Doobie Brothers...you get my drift.
ReplyDeleteI have a playlist called "Earworms" and it is decidedly eclectic, as well. Just songs I like from various eras and genres.
DeleteWhen I was a kid I used to take my dog to this huge, beautiful, well manicured park where I never saw anyone else. She would run and run and run. I don't know how I got in there without noticing it was a golf course! HA!
ReplyDeleteLOL. You never saw anyone golfing on it?! That's awesome.
DeleteI don't have a dog, but I definitely look at rules as being flexible when they don't seem to reflect common sense (that said, I have a child that is terrified of dogs and so dogs off-leash in locations where they're supposed to be on-leash has caused some real anxiety in our family before; one of our favourite places to hike became an off-leash dog park several years ago and the child that has anxiety over dogs - stemming from an unfortunate incident in their childhood - now REFUSES to hike in that area; it is SWARMING with off-leash dogs. Most are under voice control, but some are not and are huge and jump and it terrifies my child and...but I'm really grateful there is a great designated location for off-leash dogs and it's huge with big ponds of water and the dogs look so happy having so much great space to roam).
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm very sensitive that some people are scared of Hannah and if there is anyone in sight, she immediately gets leashed! I swear that this area is used very little and the handful of times we've been there when other people have been as well, she's not allowed off-leash.
DeleteMy guess would be that the no dogs allowed sign is to try to avoid dogs damaging the field but if you don't let your dog dig and you pick up after them then I don't see any harm in taking your dog there.
ReplyDeleteI keep my eyes on her 100% of the time she's there, so I stop any naughty behavior. She does LOVE to dig in the sandpit that was probably used for high jump or some track event in the past and as long as the sand stays in the pit, I let her do it. I'm breaking the rules RESPONSIBLY. Ha.
DeleteI don’t do dog, but there are two dog parks in our town where people can let them run. They are fenced.
ReplyDeleteBeatrix has no survival skillz and cannot go off-leash BUT the elementary school soccer field across the street from us is a NO DOGS place that is lousy with dogs outside school hours LOL
ReplyDeleteLOL. All of us dog people are the same - we just want our dogs to run off some extra energy, regardless of what the signs say!
DeleteI've seen people walking backwards. I know myself and I will for sure fall down.
ReplyDeletePeanut is off leash most of the time and when she's ON leash, she feels like she's in prison. It's something we're working on.
Hannah looks so happy!!