Welcome to Dog Parkology, a show that looks at the concept of dog parks through our relationship with dogs, with each other, and with the land. In our previous episode, we explored how dog parks offer opportunities for a closer understanding Standing and personal connection with your dog. Figure out what forms of enrichment they need and actively play together. However, there's still room at the dog park for you to play to connect with strangers.
When you know that somebody has a pet or a dog, that is automatically something that resonates with us as. being similar to our own interest. This is Megan Mueller, an Associate Professor of Human Animal Interaction at Tufts University. So there's an implied trust there because you're saying, I understand this person's like me, this person has a dog, they care about their dog.
And so I'm attributing certain characteristics to that, perhaps empathy or trust or responsibility for caring for the dog. In addition to an intuitive sense of trust, the topic of your dogs can provide an icebreaker. When you're meeting somebody new who you don't know, who's a stranger, where do you start with that interaction? The nature of talking with someone else about your dogs is immediately personal because your dog means a lot to you and their dog means a lot to them.
And so that can be a really nice, safe place to start a conversation with someone that can then lead off into other areas. Todd Parks can offer a certain levity. Interactions with somebody in a dog park don't have a lot of the same baggage that other types of interactions might have. For example, maybe you're feeling pressure at work to make a particular impression on somebody or even in other social situations, the stakes might seem higher.
Whereas this is a lower stakes opportunity where there's a social facilitator, a topic to talk about around your shared interest in dogs. So it might just feel a little bit easier. Dog parks are social gathering spots outside of home and work that can provide a space for people to come together. This type of third place also allows us to let our guard down in a way that we might not normally with strangers. As humans, we are social beings. We need social interaction with other people.
And we know that there's increased polarization and challenges around connecting in person. A lot of connections now are happening in the digital space, especially COVID era. And so this is an increasingly unique exposure to a different group of people that you wouldn't normally have the opportunity to connect with. Opening up to new perspectives is always a good thing.
Learning about different perspectives and different ways of being in the world helps us expand our view and our empathy of the world more broadly. This brings us to the theme of our episode, Common Ground. Most of us know the concept, the idea that even people who might have different views or might come from different life experiences can find something they agree on. Having that common ground can open up lines of communication and allow for active listening.
It can be the building block of a foundation of openness, empathy, and ultimately trust. In this case, of course, the common ground we share is the love of our dogs. There's an opportunity at dog parks to connect no matter where you go. We had been living in an apartment in Brooklyn and we timed getting my dog Finley with the move to Texas. This is Whitney Harris, a freelance writer who's published articles for many dog magazines and websites. Dallas seems like a much more dog friendly place.
There are dog parks everywhere. I was freelance writing. So I was at home a lot, but she really forced us to get out, to meet people, to be social, to be active. Once out there at the dog park, Whitney found it to be a great environment to have conversations with other locals. It's so easy and natural to strike up a conversation when your dog is playing with someone else's dog. For the most part, everyone is chatty. Everyone wants to know your dog's origin story.
There are infinite questions to ask someone about their dog, and that always leads to other things. It's almost like a litmus test. Like, owning a dog is, in some ways, a selfless thing to do, because they require so much of us, so much time, so much caregiving. So, that, to me, indicates that they're good people, that they're trustworthy, and we would watch each other's dogs.
Soon, Whitney found herself making valuable connections with people she met at the dog park, including a woman named Sage. When I first met Sage, she seemed quiet. I couldn't get a good read on her, but she was the one who asked for my number and said, Our dogs play great, let's get together. Sage was pregnant at one point when we were in Dallas and had all of these appointments to go to, so I would take her dog Freddy for her.
Once I got to know her, I realized she had just such a fascinating life story. She was a chef and worked in a lot of kitchens. She told me the stories of every single tattoo on her body. She really opened herself up to me and then I opened myself up to her and we talked about struggling to get pregnant and I feel like I learned a lot from her. Her life experience was just completely different than mine. It was just wonderful getting to know someone who I wouldn't otherwise ever cross paths with.
When Whitney and her husband moved back to New York from Dallas, they went to Westchester County, just north of New York City. And once again, the dog park experience became important. Looking into neighborhoods up here in Westchester, one of the stops on our list was always the local dog park. We knew no one here in our town of Sleepy Hollow. We didn't know a single person.
Going to the dog park with Finley, I was heavily pregnant and everyone just, you know, Had a million questions for me and a million pieces of advice. Oh, you're new here. This is the best restaurant. This is what you can do on the weekends. These are the farmer's market hours and you're having a baby. This is what the schools are like. They just want to share. And then, you know, you pay it forward.
Now that I've been here eight years, three kids later and Finley's getting older, I can tell anyone I meet at the dog park what my advice is for them, dog related and otherwise. No matter where she went, or no matter where she and her husband might go in the future, Whitney has found that dog parks can be an invaluable way to connect in a new community. It's also important to remember not everyone feels the same type of welcome or instant comfort in these spaces.
I was lucky in that when I was in my dog park era. When I had Samar, I was in the Bay Area, which is an area with a lot of folks of color. This is Sharon Holland, a distinguished professor in the Department of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And a neighborhood I certainly lived in at the edge of East Palo Alto was definitely considered a neighborhood of African descended people. A lot of times people would just take an old abandoned place.
Clean it up a little bit, and if it has a still usable fence, folks would run their dogs there. Some parks are good, but other parks If I came, I wouldn't want to be the only person of color in a park. People don't necessarily associate black bodies with positive relationships with non human animals. Or they assume that many people of African descent do not want or do not cherish their relationships with animals, which is not a historical truth.
To illustrate some of the history of the powerful relationships between Black people and their animals, Sharon wrote a book in 2023 entitled An Other, A Black Feminist Consideration of Animal Life. People of African descent have a really incredible legacy with non human animals. I can think of no other group who have been more consequential to animal life than black equestrians, black trainers, the black enslaved, who basically built the sport of racing and equine care. And I am a rider.
I have a lovely horse named Annie. I feel like actually by riding, I'm connecting to my heritage as a African descended person. And I think people are seeing that more and more now that we're not separate from the animal world. We've helped contour human beings relationship to it. As a professor of American Studies, Sharon has been teaching an animal course for almost a decade now. In addition to her horse, dogs have always been important to Sharon.
Now, Sharon resides in North Carolina, with more open land for her dogs to run. And while some people like their privacy, everyone always helps one another keep an eye out for each other's dogs. A friend of mine, Artemis, who's amazing with dogs, had the sweetest pit bulls. Winnie, my dog, loved the pitties and would jump over their backs and play with them and run around. I saw our dogs were playing together. They were down by my house. And I'm like, what is your daddy's name?
I don't even have his number. And so, walked him up the road, I knew where Aramis lived and he said, Oh, thank you. And I said, I don't know your name. I don't have your number. And he goes, I don't know your name, but I knew his dogs. And he comes on the land all the time. It's like a big dog run. And in the morning, my dogs, we go a little bit later up the road and they're always sniffing. I said, Oh, that's where Aramis dogs were.
During the pandemic, Sharon found that her neighbors came together in a new way because of their dogs. The most consistent dog park I've had is with Aramis. We used a little cul de sac circle right by the mailboxes for the houses down my road. There's about a mile around this whole property, all the way around. It was an informal dog park. A lot of folks during the pandemic came down here and ran their dogs. And folks from the trailer park near my house came here to let their dogs off leash.
The dog parks, they weren't necessarily shut down, but a lot of people were afraid. They weren't sure if COVID could be spread from the dogs, from touching one another. Our informal dog park was great. Sometimes the neighbors would come out and wave and sit and watch the dogs just do their thing. So I just love the sociality of dogs. I've learned so much about sharing, about forgiveness, just the way in which dogs work it out. I wish human beings could learn this.
It's weird, like, even though there's a lot of space between us, out here I feel I have more intimate relationships with my neighbors than I have In other places, I feel like I know everybody. I do feel safer down here. I'm very lucky. While the grounds around Sharon's community are not technically a designated dog park, they still accomplish the core idea.
Having a place for dogs to be off leash for the humans to enjoy their time with them, and to meet and connect with human and canine neighbors. Aside from being responsible about where you let your dog off leash. These kinds of dog parkology moments can happen anywhere. Whether you go to your local dog park or form your own, our canine companions allow us to better get to know and understand our neighbors, no matter what distance between you.
New York Times opinion columnist Frank Bruni wrote a piece a few years ago entitled Dogs Will Fix Our Broken Democracy. Bruni writes about how his dog, Regan, impacted his interactions out and about in New York. Something happens when Regan does leave the apartment with me. Something so rare these days that it's practically revolutionary, Bruni says.
In Central Park, there's a whole vibrant society of those of us with dogs, especially during the awfully showers before 9 a. m. and after 9 p. m. when I let Regan lead the way and the people I get to know are appendages of the dogs she decides to wrestle with. They're not chosen by some social media algorithm, sorted by income level, screened by political affiliation. Bruni writes about seeing Americans becoming more and more separated.
in the areas in which we live, where we take vacations, or the schools children go to. There's also the way technology filters out people who might challenge us. He writes, My interactions in Central Park are partly about having a dog, but just as much about what the dog encourages, even compels. Spending time in public places that are open to everyone, and well situated, and appealing enough, To guarantee that people from all walks of life cross paths.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Dog Parkology. I'm Jenna Blum, your narrator. This show was created by As It Should Be Productions, the creators of Dog Save the People and Dog Walk Meditation podcasts, with executive producer Scott Benaglio and producer and editor Jack Sommer. Be sure to check out the entire season of Dog Parkology by following the show on Apple Podcasts. Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can follow us on social media at Dog Park, ology and Dog Save the People. You can visit our website, dog park ology.com to learn more about the show and to buy custom design merch like our T-shirts. If you know of any great dog parks in your area or you've created your own dog park moment, you can email us at dog park at. We'd love to hear about your experience. And if you've enjoyed listening to this episode, please share it with a friend.
Enjoy a trip to a dog park today, or wherever you go with your dog. You appreciate nature, meet others and make a better life together.