bishan park Archives - We live in a flat

We were scheduled to meet with some small dogs for the first time.

And because we had a not so successful introduction to another dog before, and knowing that Donna can sometimes be overly friendly and want to approach some dogs we walk pass on our walks. And also that she has, admittedly, a past history of antagonistic relationships with other female dogs – namely her mother, siblings, a former cell-mate called Grace – I thought it prudent to take the dog for a long walk in the morning… 2 hours. :P *pats self on the back*

Aside: Doggerel recently published a post on that gives the key points how to introduce unfamiliar dogs, if you are interested.

We went to the pretty Bishan Park. (I have more pictures and a related news article on my previous post on this link to dog urban agility at Bishan park, if you are interested.)

One of the lovely features in the park is the man-made stream that runs through the length of it. At various points of the stream, there are stone steps that one can traverse across to get to the other side for the fun of it. We’ve never tried going across them before, but there’s always a first for anything isn’t it?

So I thought hey, Donna can parkour across the stream by hopping across the stone steps!

But first, the coast has got to be clear, so we waited for this man to come across. I thought to take a picture of Donna before she starts her journey across the stream, but she didn’t want to stay. She wanted to forge ahead.

Considering Donna had a pretty dull time the later part of our visit to III Cafe, we decided to stop by the Bishan Dog Run which was on the way home.

We haven’t been inside for quite some time since Donna had gotten fearful of the place the last couple of times she was chased by dogs there. Subsequently, I did take her to the park so that we practice staying calm while walking past the fenced-in doggy area. She did not appear averse to entering that day, so we thought we’d try bringing her in and hanging around the area where there were less dogs… except that three dogs immediately lopped towards our area to check her out.

While Donna did not jump for joy, she was not as fearful as she was previously as well. What she did was to duck under the park bench when she got uncomfortable with the attention and then make exploratory forays from there. In, out, in, out until she was comfortable with her new friends.

I didn’t start taking any pictures until later when I was assured that she was having fun with the other dogs.

If this brown dog had some spots, he would look like Scooby-doo! :P Looking at this picture, I think I start to get why Ruby’s human thinks that Ruby’s black coat looks too dense in colour. Donna’s black coat does stand out but does not look as nice as the brown dog’s softer tones against the surroundings.

Checking out the white dog who preferred the fence to them. :P

Is that a border collie? I’m not good at identifying breeds. Still that’s a lot of hair!!

We limited her to 15 minutes of play time in the dog run so that we could leave on a very positive note for her. She was so dog-tired, she didn’t even blink an eyelid at the close up shot at home. :P

If you are interested, Dr Sophia Yin has a great poster on Dog Park Etiquette that can be downloaded for free as well as tips how to train a dog to prevent him from being part of any unhappy situation that may escalate in a dog park in the dog park. Southslope.org has a nice Dog Park Etiquette Poster with lots of useful tips for adults and for parents with children on how we can help make the dog park an enjoyable place for all humans and dogs and also what to do, if a fight breaks out.