Chester needed some fun

I started to feel bad for Chester, because even though I walked him in T.Y. Park every morning and evening, it didn’t feel like he got his money’s worth of this trip. Nowhere is he allowed to roam off-leash, on most beaches dogs are not allowed, some campgrounds and hotels only allow dogs up to the size of 20lbs if at all (why would you want those around?). When we looked for a dog beach in the area of Ft. Lauderdale, we only found one where dogs are allowed only on some days during certain hours and then still had to be on leash. Plus, you would have to pay $7 for the dog’s visit to the beach. Really?!!! Dog life in Florida is just not fair. Anyway, we ended up doing something illegal: We did find a dog park, and even though we didn’t have a permit, we let Chester run. You can get a monthly permit for $25 per vehicle (?) or $265 per vehicle per year. At home, I pay $20 for Chester’s annual dog tag and I can let him run pretty much anywhere…

Dog park rules, take your time...

Now, visiting that dog park was an interesting experience. Great place, especially as dogs of different sizes are not allowed to mingle… There were four different entrances, one for dogs up to 20lbs, one for dogs between 20and 50lbs, one for dogs over 50lbs, and one area was closed (not off-leash, just off-limits). No kidding! Every section had a shaded sitting area, all we would have needed was a coffee booth on top of that. Chester had a huge area to roam, but he was only interested in the ball he found. At least he was happy. If he had been around 20lbs, we would have had to sit with 20 or so other people among the sound of 20+ yappying handbags, ehm, I mean dogs, of course. (Still can’t understand why camping grounds and hotels would only allow those hand..ehm..dogs and not my well-trained, quiet 85pounder.) Because Chester is so big, we were almost alone in our section – except for two ladies who must have wished their dogs were 50+lbs. I guess they didn’t really know what 50+lbs is…

Chester loved the ball, never mind the park :-)