Lazy days

Not much new happening in the dog park these days. The invasion of the canker worms is over, thank goodness, and last week's wind and rain seem to have washed away 99% of the webs and gross, um, output of the worms. The woods are full now of small white moths, which may or may not be related to the worms (I've heard a couple of different theories). In any event the moths produce a lovely flurry effect in the woods - very Disneyesque. I half expect to see Snow White skipping along the paths, singing a happy tune.

The algae threat in the pond seems to have gone away for now, although we're still keeping an eye on it. The annual "seaweed" *has* developed, though, which makes swimming difficult for the dogs if they go a little farther out to retrieve floating balls. Chica, wise after 6 years of playing fetch with me, simply refuses to go if the ball lands too near the weedy barrier. The marooned tennis balls you see out there are probably mine. ;)

The labyrinth project seems to have ground to a halt after some perennials were planted by elementary school students earlier this summer. The rest of it has been left to nature. I'm guessing that the weedy mound must be quite a surprise to people who have travelled to the park just to see it.

A new development is the emergence of a regular Saturday night bonfire in the offleash area this summer. This is extremely annoying and hazardous, since the drunken perpetrators leave burnt logs, broken bottles, expended fireworks and other assorted trash behind. They've also managed to rip up the lawn with ATVs. Last Saturday there was evidently a large party in the arbour area south of the labyrinth, with a trail of broken bottles leading to it along the path. As the grass-skirted party signs they left behind proclaimed, "Midsummer Chaos! Let's get drunk! Let's get naked!" The revellers left trash, bottles and broken lawn furniture behind, as well as trying to uproot some of the vines on the arbour.

I agree with one of my dog park friends, who said that the City would be better served to patrol the park after hours for these destructive idiots, instead of using valuable manhours to hunt down leash offenders, as they were doing earlier this spring. But it's all a matter of priorities and perspective, I guess...after all, a little after-hours booze-up in the park never hurt anyone, did it? It's just a rite of summer, kids blowing off steam, boys will be boys, etc. etc. etc. I wonder how the pet owners who had to have their dog's feet stitched up this year would respond. The cause of their dogs' injuries: broken beer bottles.

Algae Alert!

With warm weather finally here, the pond in the offleash area has become an ideal place to cook up some nasty algae. Our algae specialist Hedy has taken samples and reports that while levels aren't yet dangerous, unhealthy algae *are* present in the pond and could make dogs sick, especially if they drink the water. The best thing to do is to keep them out of the pond until the weather cools off.

However, if your dog is like mine and really needs to have a dip to cool off, then the safest place for them to do that is near the southernmost end of the pond, in a little pool surrounded by reeds. Even though the water is stinky there, the reeds keep it relatively clean by filtering out the algae. There's an added benefit of shade in that location, which has a stand of willows.

Oddly enough, the newly-restored waterfall is actually making the algae situation worse by bringing in a constant flow of nutrient-rich water from the Red River.

Better still, bring a backpack with a jug of cool fresh tap water and big bowl when you come to the park, and don't forget the sunscreen for you and your pet!

Other tips on keeping your pup cool in hot weather can be found at:

Keep Your Dog Cool in Hot Weather
http://hubpages.com/hub/Dog_Days_of_Summer__Keeping_Your_Dog_Cool_in_Hot_Weather
Keeping Outside Dogs Cool
http://dog-care.suite101.com/article.cfm/keeping_outside_dogs_cool
Gadgets for cooling:
http://dogequipment.com/sections/a-cooling.html