Dakota Memorial Dog Park

I took Jade to a new park today. It's a dog park not too far from my apartment. The park is run by the city's Parks and Recreation and part of a larger community park.

I had found it online on Monday, but my plans to take Jade out that afternoon were foiled by our neighbors who took Jade out to another park with their kids. By the time I got her back, she was too tired to go out and play, so I had to wait for another day. Today was nice and sunny without being hot, so I thought it would be a good day to try it. Besides, I figured Derrick would like to join us and today was his day off.

The dog park was named after Dakota, a German Shepherd police dog who was killed in the line of duty. It is 8 acres in size and fenced to keep the doggies in. There's a gravel trail for walking, an open lawn for throwing a ball or sticks, a forested area and a rustic log agility course.


For those of us who run out of steam sooner than our four legged friends, there are benches around the walking trail. And there are drinking fountains for the people and the dogs!


It was a lot of fun being out there. For someone who has not been all that comfortable around most dogs, I had a blast out there. Hardly any of the dogs were on leashes and all of them were friendly and well behaved. I didn't get growled at even once and the only barking I heard was playful barking. Jade made lots of friends with lots of different pooches today.




It was a great place to just walk (or in Jade's case, run) and enjoy being outside. We completely lost track of time and only realized how long we had been out there when we noticed that Jade was not running back at full speed after fetching the ball. She was so exhausted that she fell asleep during the 5 minute ride home and has been snoring next to me on the couch ever since.

I think she'd call this a successful outing.