Saying Merry Christmas with a nature walk

From left: Debbie, Blanco, Okami and Christa

Photos by Phillip Mullis/Metrolina Dog Reporter

Our two dogs received an early Christmas present on Tuesday (Dec. 23) – a nature walk at Colonel Francis Beatty Park in Mecklenburg County. (I am so happy our neighboring county preserved so much parkland - more than 17,600 acres - for the public to enjoy. Cane Creek is nice but having more than one option in Union County would be even nicer.)

Blanco loves to travel and gets excited whenever he sees his crate come off the shelf and go into the back of the van. Being part Husky, he's a natural born explorer.

Okami, our Border Collie mix is another story. We weren’t sure if she would appreciate this gift. Okami spent a lot of time traveling to adoption fairs with her rescue group as a pup. After she found her forever home with us, she seemed to prefer staying put. Whether or not the fact that she was returned to the rescue by her first adoptive family created a phobia or not would be a case for an animal communicator but Okami’s anxiety about traveling has always been plain to see.

Okami paces back and forth and drools profusely in the van. Trips to the vet meant a saliva soaked pooch coming and going. We ended up cutting obedience classes for the same reason and home schooled her instead.

To complicate matters, when Okami was 10-months-old we discovered she’d inherited a genetic disability: bilateral hip dysplasia. Traveling with Okami became very limited which meant both dogs didn’t go for walks beyond the streets of our own neighborhood.

As this was Okami’s second Christmas with us, we wanted to see if she was secure enough to take a pleasure trip in the van – no veterinarian or pet store smelling of adoption fairs at the end of the ride – just a walk in the park with her brother and the human pack members.

Although, her hip dysplasia has been well under control for over a year, we gave Okami a dose of Rescue Remedy to put her at ease. She climbed into the van willingly and settled down on a layer of towels in the back seat with our daughter, Christa. Okami managed to stay dry during the 20 minute ride to the park and once out of the van seemed very pleased about her destination. She immediately began investigating the new sights, smells and sounds.

Blanco had not been to Colonel Beatty Park before and was beside himself with joy when he saw so much new territory to sniff, sniff, sniff, mark, mark, mark and claim title to by scratch, scratch, scratching his scent into the ground. Silly alpha dog! (At home Blanco rushes to reclaim every inch of his backyard kingdom that Okami dares to piddle on.) Until he finished publicizing his presence at the park, walking Blanco was stop and go, stop and go. His pace picked up soon enough when worry about his sister walking ahead of him took priority over his attempt to aquire as much public land as possible.

The park was nearly empty two days before Christmas. We did see a cyclist, a jogger, and a family with young children fishing as well as a few other folks walking their dogs but we had the park to ourselves most of the time.

After the dogs checked out the playground area and the geese on the lake, they trekked along the trails for about hour with their ears alert, noses twitching and tails wagging. I imagine the dogs thought those heavily wooded trails were heaven. We thought it was the closest thing to "Peace on Earth" we'd experience this holiday season. The chilly air (mid to upper 30s') was so exhilarating; we probably could have kept going but we decided not to push our luck the first time out with Okami.

The ride home in the van was uneventful. Both dogs slept peacefully - Blanco in his crate and Okami on her towels. (Dog Philosophy 101: A tired dog is a good dog!) All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas present for everyone including our cat, Oreo. She thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon at the house without any annoying canines running about. She can’t wait for us to go again. Now that we know Okami can handle it neither can we!

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January is walk your pet month. Check out this link to Mecklenburg County parks. There are 210 of them, many of which are dog-friendly.