Dog Park!

Okay, so I failed miserably at posting this blog entry yesterday, as promised.  I tried, y'all, I really tried, but the bed just seemed too comfortable and I just couldn't seem to stay awake.  So, 24 hours later, I am here to make up for it!

Portland has lots of great dog parks, and we used them frequently when we lived there.  A particularly lovely park (Fernhill) was literally 3 minutes (by car) away, or a 15 minute walk. It was great to head over there on a weekend morning with a coffee in hand, ready to be entertained by offleash dog shenanigans.  If we were feeling more adventurous, a huge plot of BLM land along the Sandy river (Thousand Acres) would be our destination; even further out was a great hike in the Columbia river gorge (Eagle Creek).  The dogs had plenty of opportunities to run free, which gave everyone a nice break from the daily routine.

Fast-forward to France.  Dogs are not allowed in many of the small city playgrounds.  We do have a large park close by, and I sometimes see off leash dogs there early in the morning, but the park borders a major street and I am too afraid of the dogs running into traffic to really let them loose there.  The result has been that in the past 3 months, the poor pooches have not been able to run off leash.  We have two terrier mixes, so you can just imagine the frustration (and energy level) in our tiny apartment!

Sunday, the dogs finally got to run wild.  We had heard about Parc de Sceaux for several weeks, and had been told that it was a nice nature park with trails and an off leash dog area.  Sold!  Since we don't have a car, however, the ride to the park was a little different than the dogs were used to:

Yep, we took the train with the dogs.  Officially, according to the RER rules, we are supposed to purchase reduced-fare tickets for each dog (equivalent of the fare for a 4 to 10 year old).  I will let you guess where I stood on this policy.

The dogs did pretty well on the train - a little shaking, a few tiny whines, but no barking or crying.  Of course, the little one thought it was h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s that his dogs were riding the train with him.  We made it to the RER stop, walked through a gorgeous neighborhood of mansions, and finally found Parc de Sceaux.  It is absolutely gorgeous... but not exactly a nature park, particularly by Pacific Northwest standards.  I guess this is a nature park 'à la française'...

 The dogs were so stunned that I removed their leashes that they just sat there in stunned silence long enough for me to capture the moment:

Aaaaaand then it was off to the races.  Maple (the one on the left) ran laps for a good 5 minutes before even heading off to explore.  As she darted in and out of the pedestrian traffic, an old man carrying a walking stick kept swinging it along the ground at her as if to trip her.  I was about to write him off as a grumpy old man until I realised he was trying to make her do agility tricks - he wanted her to hurdle his walking stick!
The park includes multiple gorgeous lawns like the one seen above, pavillions to buy coffee and sandwiches, running trails with workout stations along the sides, horseback riding, and some areas specifically reserved for dogs to run.  They had a blast.

  One more note - see the manicured trees?  They are all trimmed into squares with perfectly aligned edges.  This particular stretch extended a good 400m on either side of the path.

The dogs needed baths to wash off all of the nasty stuff they found to roll in, but whatever.  They slept HARD once we got home, and that is sweet for all of us.  I am pretty sure we will be back next weekend...

- E