This bonus episode provides tips on how to safely take dogs on off-leash walks, to ensure the safety of other dogs, wildlife, and humans in dog parks or the wilderness. This advice includes recall training techniques like using remote devices to signal when dogs should come back to your side.

We’ve become disconnected from the natural world around us. However, our dogs – and our dog parks – can help us reconnect to our environment in a more attentive and curious way. When we start to feel a deeper understanding of our place within the larger ecosystem, we can start to care more about protecting it and living symbiotically with all non-human creatures and wildlife.

While our dogs can help us connect with other people on an individual basis, third places like dog parks can help us form larger unification and cohesion among our neighbors. Developing this trust and dependability can foster communities that are more unified, safer, and friendly. It’s also important, however, to ensure that there is equitable access for all neighborhoods to benefit from this foundational support.

We seldom have opportunities to meet others outside of our normal bubbles. Dog parks, however, provide a chance for us to meet strangers we might not otherwise. Through our shared love for our dogs and the inherent trust of meeting another dog parent, we can foster new relationships with those around us. These interactions can allow us to widen our perspectives, increase our sense of empathy for others, and come together in greater unity.

The concept of Guided Play is a learning approach—typically for kids—that involves ongoing observation and interaction to better understand needs, strengths, challenges, and preferences. In our case, as dog parents, we can present different types of activities to see what they gravitate towards. You may find this at a traditional dog park, or you may find other activities in similar spaces that are a better fit for your canine companion.

Many dog parks today still resemble the traditional fenced-in spaces with some grass, dirt, and benches established almost 50 years ago. However, our understanding of how dogs think and the number of dogs in homes have grown considerably in the last few decades. Humans have also become isolated with the usage of digital technologies, post-pandemic behavior, and the decline of public spaces for real-life interactions. Through it all, dog parks remain one of the few enduring third places that attract all types of people to the beauty of nature.

Introducing a new limited series, Dog Parkology!

The show will look at dog parks through our relationship with dogs, with each other, and with the land. From their inception around half a century ago, dog parks have demonstrated their value as public spaces. However, we believe they can have an even more significant impact if we re-imagine their usage in our world. We want to encourage people to ‘think outside the fence’ about dog parks today.

In this trailer, narrator Jenna Blum shares an opening message about what’s to come. This show is produced by As It Should Be Productions, the creators of the Dog Save The People and Dog Walk Meditation podcasts.