Durant Diary: Entry #4

Here’s why it’s so important that your dog is friendly.

After debating it for a while, we decided to take Durant and Tempest to one of our most beloved dog parks – Katherine Kearney Park in Mequon. It’s a very large park with a lot of trails, open areas, and woods. We thought, after two months with us, Durant was ready for some new experiences.

We were pretty confident that this would go well because Durant has developed the habit of trotting way ahead of us on the trail and then backtracking to come check on us. We pet him and fuss over him when he does this. He does this dozens of times on a walk at our regular dog park, the one that’s fenced in.

So, yes, of course. He disappeared within ten minutes of being at the new park. He did his trotting ahead and backtracking thing a couple of times. We fawned all over him as usual. And then he was just gone. And he could be anywhere. The park is bordered by trees but there is no fence.

We split up. Tempest and my husband going one way, me trudging down to the creek. Calling and calling his name. A woman with a small dog in a winter jacket passed me on the trail, “Your dog took off? Too much excitement for him.”

Anyway, the story ends well. My phone rang. A woman said, “Hi, I have your lost dog.” Ten minutes later, when we drove to her house to pick him up, she explained that she was sitting in her den looking out at her garden and he was standing there. She said he was a big dog and kind of scary looking, but he seemed to be friendly, so she went out in her yard, found his tag on his collar, put him in her garage and called me. He wagged his tail the whole time, I just know he did. He’s that much of a lover.

If Durant was a fearful or aggressive dog, he’d still be wandering the woods around the park or maybe even negotiating the busy street and neighboring freeway. Thank goodness he’s been so well treated and trusts people so much.

No. We’re not going back to Katherine Kearney Park. Not for a long while.

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Back in the truck, my husband asked, “Do you think Durant thinks we think he’s a bad boy?” No, I thought, and I hope he never does.