A Leap Of Faith

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I have never let Guinness or Murphy off lead outside unless we were in a fenced in area. Today we went exploring, and we found a fantastic off leash dog park only 30 minutes away. It is 235 acres of State property on a beautiful river. When we got there we saw a couple of people with their dogs (about 10), but it was so huge you could easily find an area where there were no other dogs. We brought our 30 ft leads....I had planned to "walk them" on the long leads. Well, it was such a perfect place, I got up the nerve to let them go....and they did! They had the time of their Doodle lives, but they never let us get out of their sight, and they ran and just had a blast!. They came every time I called....I had lots of treats in my pockets. It was so awesome! Guinness found a dead frog....but he stopped just as he was about to "roll in it". We kept them away from the river this time...as I get more comfortable, we will probably let them try that too. Murph was so cute...he looked back about every 10 seconds just to make sure we were still in sight. Guinness was a little more adventurous, but still wanted to be sure he could see us. I'm just so glad I got up the nerve to do this...I tend to be a little overprotective of the guys. Now I can't wait to go back...and I'm sure they can't either.

[Christine & Shelby]

Guiness and Murphy! Oh my goodness... sounds like you guys had a fun day! How cool it must be to be able to run free. I got to go to a small dog park with just one other dog (my friend Macy) and I got to run and run too - but it was pretty small! I am so jealous! Murphy - good job making sure your mom was close by - you wouldn't ever want her to get lost.... that would be scary!

[Ann Kendig]

It's really hard to take that step. I was nervous the first time I did it too. When I went to NJ in April, DK
member Rose (Rose, Blaze & Robyn) took us to a wonderful dog park. The park was huge and had trails through the woods and it also had a river. Sheba and Duke stayed with us. I was pleasantly surprised.
I'm so glad you guys had a great time. It sounds like a wonderful place for you to take your doodles to.
I wish we had a a park like that so close to us!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hey, Guinness, Murph, Jackdoodle here! Isn't running free awesome? I love to go to the forest preserve parks near my house! (Murph, I always check back to make sure my mom is still following me, too!)
I'm glad you guys had a good time! Tell your mom that my mom says next time you go, she wants to see pictures!

[Suzanne & Jack]

I'm envious. A lot of people at our dog park walk off-leash in the woods. Since Jack checks on me constantly at the dog park I am sure he would stay by me off leash. My problem would be my DH. He would be in high panic mode.