Our Adventure at the Park

We went to the local park on Thursday. The initial plan was to play in the playground and feed the ducks.

We did get a short play on the playground before the girls decided it was time to feed the ducks.

From Park 2nd July 2009

From Park 2nd July 2009

From Park 2nd July 2009

From Park 2nd July 2009

As I was admiring a mystery bird when

From Park 2nd July 2009

I heard shouts coming from further up the path.

A grandma out for a walk with her baby granddaughter in a pram, puppy on a lead and 6yo grandson beside her was shouting out. They appeared to be under attack from a young German Shepherd puppy. Much ruckus ensued as I got my girls into the fenced playground and helped rescue the Grandma and her children and dog. We waited for the German Shepherd puppy to disappear or its owner to appear but neither happened.

So I called the local park ranger and reported the dog as stray, sadly it had no tags on its collar so I couldn’t just call the owner. Hopefully it had a microchip at least.

After about half an hour the baby was getting grizzly and really needed to go home. So I agreed to hold the German Shepherd puppy by its collar while the Grandma, children and dog made their escape. The German Shepherd puppy really was very friendly and just wanted someone to play with otherwise I wouldn’t have agreed. The Grandma had gotten to the top of the hill and was crossing the road when German Shepherd puppy started growling at me, I figured they’d gone far enough to be safe and I really didn’t want the dog to bite me so I let go. German Shepherd puppy promptly raced off after the Grandma.

The girls and I played for another 10 minutes and then started to get ready to leave. Just then the German Shepherd puppy reappeared being dragged along by another dog owner who was out walking her dog. She said she’d found the puppy on the road and thought we should lock him in the fenced playground for his own safety. That sounded like a good idea so the girls and i got out and locked the puppy in. The dog owner said she’d go get a leash for the puppy and would be back in 15 minutes.

So we decided to wait for her and keep the puppy company. Annie had the great idea of using one of our empty bread containers to give the puppy some water to drink. He turned it into a great toy.

From Park 2nd July 2009

From Park 2nd July 2009

From Park 2nd July 2009

From Park 2nd July 2009

From Park 2nd July 2009

It really was a lovely puppy, I was starting to wish we could take it home. Another lady with two little girls and a baby walked past wanting to get into the playground. I explained what was going on and that we were waiting for either the dog owner with a leash or the park ranger to arrive. She offered to go home and get a leash for us which we gratefully accepted – it was starting to get very cold.

About 15 minutes later the lady with the two little girls and baby came back with a leash and we tied the puppy up to the fence. Puppy wasn’t so happy about that. We said farewell to the lady and her children.

It started to rain so we decided to call the park ranger again who was on his way. So the girls and I said farewell to the puppy and went back home to defrost.

It was a great adventure, we got to meet lots of wonderful people who live in our local area and made friends with a delightful puppy.