Let's say you have a dog with big energy and a small yard. What do you do? You go to a dog park. Only dog parks aren't really good for dogs, so you find a park to play in by yourselves. Only another dog walks in off leash and charges towards your dog wanting to play, but your dog is reactive so you have a heart attack, fall to the ground and your dog eats the other dog. Just as an example.
Lip is that dog. Although he hasn't eaten any other dogs and is only reactive in certain situations (more on his reactivity and training in a later post.)
As a result of him having a HUGE amount of energy and me having a TINY yard, yesterday afternoon out of desperation I went to a Sniffspot. This isn't a sponsored post, it's more of a service announcement for dog owners.
Sniffspot is like Airbnb but with yards for dogs. People with small, large or enormous yards or properties list their homes on the app. You pick the property that you want to go to, book your time online, pay the host through the app and then head to your destination.
This particular destination was a home that had a big lake, trails and no other dogs. Perfect.
I didn't even meet the homeowner. I drove up, parked in the designated spot and followed a path down to a forested area that was part of their 30 acre property.
It all went swimmingly until Philip accidentally went swimming. As is often the case, he thought he could walk on water.
He couldn't.
He walked onto a floating dock to explore it a bit, had a drink and then walked right off the dock into the water like a cartoon.
Turns out going to a Sniffspot doesn't actually eliminate the possibility of succumbing to a heart attack it just changed the reason for it.
I pulled Lip out of the water by his harness and he trotted off, presumably looking for a maggoty animal carcass or serial killer to introduce me to.
On the way home I reminded him that I saved his life so maybe he could cut me some slack tonight and poop a firm one.
That request was met by some open mouthed panting followed by startling himself with his own toot.
An appropriate end to our Sniffspot excursion.
p.s. The harness I had on him is a Kurgo Tru-Fit crash tested harness that's made for buckling your dog into the car safely.
My small dogs have belonged to a dog park for 4 years. They overall love it. It's a members park: we pay about $60 a year and when you sign up you produce vaccine records, etc. You get a electronic key to get in the park (which is about an acre and has a smaller fenced off area for smaller or shy dogs). If you let nonmembers into the park you can get booted out. If your dog bites, misbehaviors, they are often reported and can have membership revoked. it's extremely lovely and mostly well-run (by volunteers). My little dog was only nipped once on back by a Siberian (I think that he was trying to play).
That said, I think dog parks can have negative impacts, but for us it's been nothing but positive. My shy malti-poo has gained more socialization skills and both she and the other dog regularly greet small dogs they recognize like long lost friends. If they get worn out or overstimulated, we leave.
(P.S., I have owned and trained dogs for 50 years. Many dog parents, admittedly, don't know what they are doing.)
Thank you. I downloaded the Sniff app. Your first paragraph is my life. I’m also a Karen and we are actually very nice.
Our neighbor listed their yard as a sniff spot. There is no fencing between our yards. We each have over 10 acres. Ours has tended pathways. What was my former easy private poodle off leash private area is now a stressful eye out for strangers with less practiced recall than lip. Would have appreciated at least a head’s up from the neighbor. It’s amusing when the hens wander to the back door. Less so with paying customers.