I Left My Leash in San Francisco

In the 25+ years I've lived in the Bay area, I had never once spent a single night in San Francisco. Travesty! So this year for the holidays, with my mom and sister coming for a visit, we all decided to rent a house for 3 nights in the city. I wanted to do touristy things that I had never taken the time to do and which weren't convenient to do with an hour's drive in the way.

Good idea? Well, it might have been if it hadn't rained constantly for the first 3 days of our 4-day stay. It wasn't just a mild drizzle either--often, it came down in sheets. Also, my poor mom got the flu and spent almost the entire time in bed.

To my utter disappointment, our 4-bedroom house was not nearly as luxurious as it looked in the photos. Grrrrrrr. Its saving grace was the location, just half a block from the panhandle of Golden Gate Park. And the best thing about the house was that they allowed us to bring Cabana!

Even with the rain, I was determined to get my money's worth, and I took Cabana to the Park several times a day. Because it was raining so hard, though, I wasn't able to take my camera with me, until the last day, when it finally stopped raining.

There were stalwart runners and dog walkers at all times in the park. Living in the city, people know that exercise, especially for their dogs, is not negotiable. But Golden Gate Park is a HUGE place, and there were many times when no one else was in sight, making me feel that we had the Park to ourselves.

I really enjoyed exploring the Park everyday, going in different directions, finding beauty in each new spot. Some mornings, Cabana and I walked for 2 hours, meandering about, finding ourselves in the Haight-Ashbury district, and navigating our way back to our rental (a subtly disguised way of saying I got lost a time or two).

Here's Cabana in front of the Conservatory of Flowers. In some of the photos below, Cabana is off-leash, but I want to make it clear that I walked her on-leash. However, for the sake of good photo opportunities, when no one else was around, I would sometimes have Cabana "stay" while I walked away from her to take a picture.

Cabana is GREAT at "stay", and how else would I be able to get a shot like this?

Here we are on the beautiful grounds between the DeYoung Museum and California Academy of Science. There were several groups of people doing tai chi, even in the rain! If I lived in the city, I'd do tai chi there, too, even though I've never done tai chi in my life.

Here, life imitates art.

These two sphinx statues reminded me of Cabana, so I asked her to "down" in between them. It was a photo op I couldn't pass up.

There were reindeer outside of the California Academy of Science. I'm guessing they were there for Christmas, but maybe they have them year-round? I don't know. Surprisingly, Cabana couldn't have cared less about them.

We met many dogs on our walks, all of them very nice and well-behaved. I suppose city dogs have to be, living in such close quarters with millions of people and other dogs. These Westies are on leash, but I was astounded by the number of dogs being walked off-leash throughout the city. Even near streets with heavy traffic, by stores with throngs of people, and throughout Golden Gate Park. There are a few designated dog run areas scattered through the Park, but they were empty of dogs. It was like people with dogs purposefully avoid those areas, preferring to let their dogs be off-leash pellmell instead. The weirdest thing is that they have one large field that is designated a dog play area, but with big signs that say dogs must be ON-leash to play there. What an oxymoron! Of course, no one actually had their dogs on-leash there, which is no surprise since hardly any dogs were on-leash anywhere in the Park.

A few times, I succumbed to breaking the rules and let Cabana play off-leash for a minute or two before leashing her and continuing on our way. Can you blame me? I'm a self-righteous law breaker, try as I might to not be either.

As they say, when in Rome....Strangely, though, no matter where I was in the Park, I saw park rangers go by at least every 10-15 minutes. Maybe they don't enforce the leash laws, though. Or maybe people get tickets and don't care? It's a matter that must be investigated more thoroughly, on my next stay in SF!

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Road Trip with Cabana - Laurelhurst

I love checking out dog parks, so on the last morning of our trip, Cabana and I drove over to Laurelhurst Park in southeast Portland. Laurelhurst is supposed to be one of Portland's most beautiful parks and was the first city park to be included on the National Register of Historic Places. But Laurelhurst has a shady past. In 2003, eight dogs were deliberately poisoned there. The debate over leash laws in Portland, and more specifically at Laurelhurst, inflamed one person to take matters into his own hands, placing herbicide-laced sausages under bushes.

Laurelhurst is a lovely park in a gorgeous neighborhood, full of old trees, with meandering walking paths around and through the park. But I could see why there might be issues about off-leash dogs. During the summer, the area in front of the path (where Cabana is standing) is the off-leash section. In the winter, the off-leash section switches to the grass on the other side of the path. Not many dogs are respecters of paths, and it must be very confusing to them to switch from one side to the other. The paths, it would seem, should be off-limits regardless of season, since runners and bikers don't want dogs getting in their way, but since dogs are allowed off-leash all the way up to whichever side of the path they're allowed on at the time, it must be a constant challenge to keep them from straying onto the actual path. It seems like disaster in the making.

When we first got to the park, there was not a single dog in sight. I thought maybe the dog poisoning incident 9 years ago was still taking its toll. Just as I was about to give up and leave, this big boy, a Great Dane-Mastiff mix, came to save Cabana's day.

This dog is still a puppy, about 1.5 years old, all legs and very playful. He and Cabana ran around for quite a while. Then, lots of other dogs began to show up.

The mastiff/dane wasn't the only big dog, though. I thought this Anatolian was a humongous Lab at first!

There were smaller dogs, too. This sweet dog, I would have liked to take her home.

Most of the dogs and owners there seemed to know each other, and it reminded me fondly of my dog park play group at home. Thankfully, there haven't been anymore instances of poisoning at Laurelhurst, but I do hope for everyone's sake, that they find a better way of dividing the park so everyone can enjoy it more fully.

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Road Trip with Cabana - Meeting Ardella

While in Portland, Cabana and I got together with fellow dog blogger, Martha, and her career-changed lab, Ardella. Martha and I have many shared interests, and we both became puppy raisers for Guide Dogs for the Blind around the same time. In fact, Cabana is just one month older than Ardella, and their fathers are brothers, which makes Cabana and Ardella cousins. I think you can definitely see some family resemblance, although Ardella is lighter in color and Cabana has a bigger head (my older daughter always says Cabana's head is really big--do you all think so?)

I knew from Martha's blog that Ardella tends to be a bit tentative around other dogs, so I was curious to see how she would do with Cabana. I think Cabana is great at reading other dogs' cues, picking up on things that I'm oblivious to. Cabana seemed to know right away that Ardella wasn't interested in romping about and didn't press her.

But that didn't mean they weren't interacting. At the time, it seemed like the dogs were barely paying attention to each other. Yet when I looked back through all the photos I had taken, in nearly every one, the dogs always seem to be copying each other! We didn't ask the dogs to lie down next to each other; they did it on their own. In this photo, they are mimicking each other, even down to their squinty left eyes! So interesting!

Martha engaged the dogs in some training exercises, and Cabana and Ardella both enjoyed that. They are labs, after all, and treats were involved.

After a walk through the neighborhood, Martha and I took our lucky labs to Lucky Lab Brewing Company for lunch. They have a huge back patio area where you can bring your dogs. There were probably 5-6 other dogs there at the time, one chocolate lab and several other breeds. On the walls were paintings and mosaics of all kinds of labs. Now the dog in this painting has what I would consider a big ol' head!

While Martha and I ate our salads, the dogs seemed to relax with one another. In this photo, doesn't it look like Cabana is laughing at something Ardella is telling her? They were so cute together. I learned a lot from this experience, mainly that just because dogs aren't playing or actively engaged with one another, it doesn't mean they aren't socializing. It made me see how important it is to allow dogs to be in the company of other dogs (as long as they aren't aggressive, of course), even the ones that don't necessarily seem to be getting something out of it. I bet they really are, and we just don't know it at the time.

The one and only bad thing that happened during our trip to Portland was when we left the restaurant, I looked down the street and saw that my car was just about to be towed away! The tow truck driver had my front wheels tied up and was just about to drag it to who knows where. I had parked near a fire hydrant, like a dummy. In California, the curbs are painted red when you aren't supposed to park somewhere, but I guess they don't do that in Oregon. Also, there was a sign right there (a confusing and misleading one) that said 2 hour parking. I had to pay a fee to the tow truck driver, and thankfully, he released my car. I still shudder to think what I would have done if I had come out 5 minutes later.

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Road Trip with Cabana - Sellwood

Portland is divided up into neatly defined neighborhoods. We rented a tiny house in the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood, which is southeastern Portland. It was a bit of a shot in the dark, choosing to stay in that neighborhood, but we truly LOVED it. We could walk to dozens of wonderful shops and restaurants, most important of which was Dairy Queen. It was less than a block from our house, and my husband has loved DQ Peanut Buster Parfaits (glorified soft serve ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and peanuts) since he was a little tyke. He and my daughters went there pretty much every day. Lucky for them and unlike me, they are all slim and can eat whatever they want without repercussion. Darn them.

Normally, we are frugal folk. It's rare that we even splurge on Starbucks, but on this trip, I didn't cook a darn thing. Not even a single cup of coffee! With so many coffee shops to choose from down the street, we bought coffee every morning and ate out for every meal. Now, that's what I call a true vacation.

Marsee Baking was a couple blocks from the house, and we ate there on our last morning. I had one of their famous "eggles"--a bagel with egg and veggies, yum.

Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge and the Willamette Riverfront were a short walk from our house. Cabana and I walked there several mornings. Here in the distance, you can see the wildlife mural, painted on the side of the Portland Memorial Mausoleum.

I loved being able to see so much of Portland from this dock. Isn't it beautiful? Portland has to be one of the prettiest cities in the world.

Sellwood Riverfront Park has an off-leash dog area, which included these stairs leading down to the river. Cabana was her usual un-swimming self. She liked having her paws in the water, but she didn't want to step down any deeper than this.

Here, she skirts around the edges of the rocky banks, carefully picking her way. Someday, I hope she will realize that she's a lab and that swimming is much more fun than walking on rocky river beds.

After exploring for a few minutes, she managed to find a rock to stand on and promptly got stuck. She was afraid to step back down into the water! I called to her, even held out treats to entice her back to shore, but no, she could not be cajoled. Finally, I had to take off my shoes and socks and wade out to get her. I thought I might have to lug all 56 pounds of her back to dry land, but once I clipped the leash on her collar, she became brave enough to step back into the water. It turned out that the water wasn't even up to my knee! The things I do for this silly dog!

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Road Trip with Cabana - Ashland, OR

Our family just got back from a road trip up to Portland, Oregon. We had a great time, and so did Cabana, who got to come with us. The drive to Portland is about 11 hours, a little long for one day, so we divided the drive into two almost-equal portions. Our first night was spent in Ashland, OR, where we stayed at a quaint dog-friendly motel called The Palms Cottages. Here's their beautifully manicured front garden area.

Our room was right next door to this enclosed garden--so convenient and gorgeous!

The theatres were dark on the night we were there, so we didn't get to see a Shakespearean play. But we did make use of the swimming pool at the motel. Dogs aren't allowed in the swimming pool. For a non-swimming dog, you'd think Cabana wouldn't care. She sat and watched quietly while my husband and older daughter swam. But when my younger daughter jumped into the pool, Cabana started to bark! I think she was protesting, "Hey, what about me?! I want to get in, too!" I told Cabana, "that's enough," and she stopped barking right away, though she followed up with a few disgruntled groans. It was a hot day, and I wished I could have let Cabana dip her paws into the water. Poor Cabana, so mistreated and neglected.

The pool area offered sectioned-off shady lounging areas for an additional fee. Anyone want to rent a cabana for $25/day? Actually, the fee to have a pet at the hotel was $25, so I guess we really did pay $25 for our Cabana!

Ashland is lovely, surrounded by mountains and tons of trees. The clerk at the motel, a dog mom herself, told me about a field nearby where lots of people take their dogs to socialize in the mornings, so Cabana and I decided to check it out.

Only one little white dog was there when we went, but Cabana was happy to play with him for a few minutes.

Our time in Ashland was too short, since we needed to get back on the road. Interestingly, on DogFriendly.com, it says that Ashland is one of the least dog-friendly places on the west coast! It's true that we did find it a bit difficult to find a place with outdoor seating for breakfast. Even then, the cafe had posted a sign, saying that although they loved dogs, they weren't allowed on the patio. Thankfully, they had a little tie-up post a few feet away for dogs to be "parked". But I thought the motel had been extremely dog-friendly, even providing us with a water bowl, waste bags, and high quality treats.

Stay tuned for more posts about our trip!

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It's a Slippery Slope

This past week, we took a road trip up to Arcata, CA, about 5 hours north of the Bay area (we were checking out Humboldt State University for our older daughter). Luckily, Cabana got to come along on this trip. Here she is at a pit stop we made on the way at Confusion Hill, which is a kitschy attraction along the 101 freeway. I don't know why there was a huge panda statue in their parking lot--maybe that's what causes the confusion at Confusion Hill. Ha ha. Actually, the confusion has something to do with defying gravity and a big shoe...?


Through VRBO, we rented a little place on Arcata Plaza that allows dogs for just a small additional cleaning fee. I was a bit nervous, because you can never really tell exactly what you're getting when you rent a place based on online photos, and doubly so when you rent a place that allows dogs. After all, photos can look deceptive, and smells can't be discerned online. But I was pleasantly surprised by this place--it was impeccably clean, thoughtfully equipped, and simply and tastefully furnished.


Outside our unit was a courtyard area with sculptures made by HSU students. The gates were closed and locked in the evenings, and it turned out to be a great place for Cabana to wander around off-leash.

I don't exactly know what got into us--maybe we were SUPER relaxed or just addled by the long drive. But we actually let Cabana sleep on the bed while we were there!! (It was my husband's idea, of all things.) Cabana has never been invited onto our beds at home, and she has never even attempted to get up on one. But she was pleased as punch to join us this time--she jumped right up and snuggled in. I didn't feel too guilty since Cabana had just gotten a bath before the trip, plus there weren't any instructions saying dogs weren't allowed on the bed, and the duvet cover is washable. Also, we did pay the extra cleaning fee.


So, we broke our no-dog-on-the-bed rule, even if it is just our own rule. And then...further down the slippery slope we fell! On the car ride home, we let Cabana sit on the seats! Usually, she sits on the floorboard behind the driver's seat. But this time, she was happy as a clam in between my younger daughter and me, looking out the window or curling up in a circle.


There's just three words for this kind of behavior:
1. SPOILED.

2. SPOILED.

3. SPOILED!

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