Wellington: A Dog’s Perspective

Buckaroo speaks… with a review of Wellington Dog Park:

Being a farm dog most of the year, it is a big transition to go to Wellington, Florida for the winter.  First of all, I have to be on a leash, which basically sucks the big one, but I do get to go to the dog park.  And let me tell you, the Wellington Dog Park is awesome!

The Wellington Dog Park is the largest dog park on the east coast. Good thing, because every groom, owner, rider, and trainer has at least one dog….so there are lots of dogs to play with.

The most popular breeds are Golden Doodles, German Shepherds, Jack Russell Terriers, Labradors, and rescues.

There is a contingent of Australian Shepherds; sometimes we end up at the dog park at the same time, and then we get to chase each other, or in my case, flirt with the girls.   One day a woman came up to us and said, “what breed are these dogs they seem so fashionable.”  Our human looked dumb-struck at the comment, and Kemosabe and I chuckled because we Aussies are intelligent dogs, not fashion statements.

The dog park has some resident squirrels.  Kemosabe is an experienced squirrel hunter, but these squirrels have got it all figured out.   They run along the top of the fencing, leap into a tree, and then cackle like mad hens at the dogs frantically trying to jump into the tree to get them.  Kemosabe will literally stare at the squirrel for hours in some kind of Kemosabe-Mind-Meld that he thinks can will the squirrel out of the tree.  It never happens.

At the dog park, the humans who usually spend most of their time talking about horses – *yawn* – spend time talking about us: their canine companions.  At the dog park the horses take second stage to us, and we like that.   I particularly enjoy people who admire me, but I did get a little huffy when one woman asked if I was the mother of the new upstart: Crockett.  I was too polite to show her my equipment.

One fun thing about Wellington Florida are the lizards.  There are a gazillion of them!  I like to pounce on them and chase them, but they are hard to catch particularly when you are attached to a human via a leash and she doesn’t like getting yanked off her feet.  Some of the lizards like to hide in the shrubbery, so I just leap into the air and land on unsuspecting flowery plants, which results in a cry of anguish from my human.

This year Kemosabe and I went to 2 dog shows in Ocala.  I didn’t much like confirmation showing because trotting around a ring at the end of a leash seemed pretty ridiculous to me.  Now if they had released some lizards, I would have been more than willing to show the judge my skills.

One thing we do in Wellington that we don’t do on the farm is go to a Doggie Spa.  This is where we are bathed, given a hot oil treatment for our coats, and then blown dry and groomed.  I actually enjoy the pampering but in the end nothing beats a good swim in a muddy pond at home.

We are headed home now, and I can’t wait.  Goodbye leash, hello freedom!  I will, however, miss the lizards.  Maybe I can convince my human to make Buckaroo’s Lizard Stew….