Bingo!

Hi! Dolly here! Finally, the lady I rescued and I got bingo on our bingo card! You may recall that this is all for Gizmo and Finn's Park Day 2.0. Its been a lot of fun playing, and a bit of a challenge! Let's see what I did:

Finding a park 10 minutes from our house was easy! Just at the end of our block is Dickinson Park. Its a very nice little park nestled in an intersection of side streets lined with Arts and Crafts historic bungalows. It has a fun playground that recently underwent a total renovation. It is named after a founding family that built a brick mansion-like home along the park. 

Another park near our home is what I call "my park." It is the park I have been going to since I was a puppy. I live in the city so it is an urban park. Portage Park is very famous, it is 36 acres in size making it he largest park on the northwest side of Chicago. Portage Park came into being in 1913 and is a reference to the route that ran along what is today Irving Park Road that had once been used by Native Americans and fur traders to "portage" their canoes between the Des Plaines and Chicago Rivers.

On Sunday I had the most fun of all! Mom took me into the city to Lincoln Park! This park is really famous, it has a zoo, lagoon and is surrounded by one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the city. It is just on the other side of Lake Shore Drive and Lake Michigan. Normally I wouldn't get to go to Lincoln Park because its at least 30 minutes from our house, depending on traffic, but I went to meet new friends! Rocco from To Dog with Love was visiting from Atlanta, and Sugar, from Golden Woofs! Sugar the Golden Retriever, lives on the north shore, so we all got together to meet before BlogPaws2013. We got along great! Sugar loves to play ball and run, Rocco is still a puppy so he loves to play, and I love to do both so we got along famously! I had a blast! Lots of interesting art and sculptures, modern and historical, surround the area so I checked out this one!

We really should do a separate blog post just on Lincoln Park, but we are getting ready to go to BlogPaws2013 so this will be our last blog post before the conference. Until then, enjoy my photos from a great day with new friends!

Love, Dolly the Doxie (mix)

xoxox

B&W Sunday: Park Day

On the rock steps, our favorite sunny spot to rest before heading home.

Park Day is coming soon! Its an exciting event started by Finn of Finn & Charley Too and Gizmo the Terrier Torrent. Mom and I are very excited to be a part of it. BUT! I go to the park every day! Most of my pictures on my blog are all taken at my neighborhood park, Portage Park. So what to do? Mom doesn't think my readers will want to read about me going to the park, again. Let's see, I've been to a forest preserve before, there's Horner Park, and Lincoln Park, been there done that. But this should be about a new and exiting HIKE! 

Well mom has a great idea. It is so exciting, but you will have to wait until April 26th to read all about where we are going. Hint: I have never been there before and I am a city dog. Stay tuned!

Love Dolly the Doxie (mix)

xoxox


I'm joining the Black & White Sunday Blog Hop hosted by My Life in Blog Years, Dachshund Nola, and You Did What With Your Wiener.

Dogs of Portage Park: BJ and Daisy

John and Daisy on left, Ed and Zoe on right.

The first time mom and I saw BJ we thought he was the worst looking dog we had ever seen. It was impossible to tell that he was a Lab mix mostly blonde because he was very elderly and in bad shape.  His fur was coarse and he had several large tumors on his body which was saggy and boney. But every morning him and his owner John would stroll into the park and join our group.  Some of the younger dogs would give poor BJ a hard time and he would go after them. John would just say "Aw he's old he just wants to be left alone." And it was true, we weren't sure how much time the old guy had left. Mom wasn't taking pictures then so I am sorry to say I don't have a picture of BJ.

BJ stayed around for a lot longer than we expected. John took him to the vet for his annual checkup and the vet thought he was in good shape considering his age, which was estimated to be around 13. One day we were walking around the park when John walked over to clean up some poop and we overheard one of the funniest things ever said in our group. Muttering under his breath while pulling a baggie from one of those containers that attached to the leash he commented, "1200 bags don't die on me now dog." John is known to be a bit frugal.

Well, like all good dogs go, BJ did leave us.  Mom lost track of the group last summer when she was working part time. One morning there was John with a new dog! Then the others told us that BJ had gone OTRB. Mom offered John her condolences and he replied in his gruff voice, "Aw he was old and he died." End of story and time to move on with Daisy. Adopted from PAWS Chicago, she's a sweet Lab mix with tons of energy, loves to chase balls, and roll over on your feet causing you to trip.

Daisy with the morning group while I get a good morning sniff by BFF Casey.

Recently, after just returning from vacation mom was taking me to the park when we got to the busy street where the cars don't let us cross. There was Bleu and Finola's mom Sharon walking Daisy to another car! John had gotten into a car accident coming home from the park. He pulled out in front of a car he couldn't see. We helped Sharon get Daisy in her mom's car, she wouldn't go in the back, then mom told them that she always rode in front, she got in then.  We all went to see how John was doing. He felt terrible because the accident was his fault but we were just glad that him and Daisy were okay. Daisy has been a bit of a handful for John. A lot of us in the group have been trying to give support in her training. She probably should not be off leash but she is and she still pulls terrible on the leash. Now John is the one that is just old and probably not up to training a young dog, but she has a loving home, lost of friends, and walks in the park every day.

Walking with Mom

I live in the big city of Chicago in a very pretty neighborhood with a large park a few blocks away from our house. Before I came along mom walked a lot for exercise. Once it would start to get light out she would head to the park and back home before work, over two miles. But she was always sad when she got home because she would see everyone walking their dogs. She got lonely walking all by herself almost every morning and loved seeing all the dogs enjoying the park. She wanted her own dog to walk to the park with her. After I came along Mom couldn't wait to take me for a walk. Well, let me tell you it was not as easy as it looks! She hadn't walked a dog in years and I had never worn a leash so what a disaster! First, mom seemed to look over the "hound" part of my breed as I have to smell every leaf, twig or blade of grass, so things went pretty slow. Then there was the pulling, I can be a bit stubborn, I would want to go one way, she would want to go the other. It didn't take too many tries before she came home and asked dad to order a leash from Caesar Millan's web site, like she had seen on his The Dog Whisperer TV show. Once they got the slip leash on me things got a little easier for mom, but I wasn't happy at all!

This is me on one of my first walks to the little park by our house. Mom made me wear a sweater then, I would get excited seeing a sweater knowing I would go for a walk. I really hate wearing them now! Then came time for my first walk to the big park! I was so excited all the smells! Mom claims I never even saw the park the first few times we went there because my nose was to the ground all the time. Then one day I looked up and "wow" look at this place, grass and trees for as far as I could see! I started to meet other dogs and everyone thought I was so cute! Mom continued to try out a few different leashes on me, all a big mistake though. There was the retractable leash, not recommended for training at all! Then there were really long leashes so that I could run around some which just got tangled up on everything. First, she would walk me to the park with the slip leash just to get me there, then change leashes. That's how I completely slipped out of my harness one of my first days at the park and went running off. Mom about had a heart attack. I am very friendly so when I stopped to say "hi" to someone he grabbed me. Whew, lucky mom, she wouldn't have been able to come home without me, dad would have been furious! So that's how we got started going on walks to Portage Park. Things changed a lot for me a few months later though. Mom, Dad and me went to puppy training at the shelter I was adopted from and the trainer believed in the pinch collar. I have had to wear one ever since because I want to pull a lot and go where I want to go. But isn't that all about being a Doxie?