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...I did have one bad part to the visit. I had the bejeebers scared out of me. (Probably good; I'm still not sure what bejeebers are for and having things in you that you can't say why is a bad thing, right?) There are three sets of trails - biking, horseback, and walking. You can walk on any of them, with or without your dogs, who must be on-leash.
There were a fair number of dog-walkers and, given that my phobia is basically down to the point where it only has to do with unrestrained, strange dogs, I was nervy (dogs!) but no more (leashes!). I would step to the edge of the trail when a jogger-and-dog passed me, and was doing pretty well.
The couple who parked next to me had a pair of dogs and they set off down the same trail I initially did, at the same meandering walking pace I was using (as opposed to the joggers, who zip past).
And after a while, I hear not too far behind me, sharp aggressive barking - which is responded to in kind by another dog. I turn back and there they are, with their two dogs...and a third, a black, dancing around them and barking and clearly unleashed, wherever he came from.
I almost lost it. See, when looking at the trails, I'd decided the one I wanted was too long to walk to the end in the time I'd given myself, so I'd intended to turn around and walk back. I therefore had not memorized the route I'd have to take if I went forward and tried to get back without retracing. Plus, this loose, aggressive dog was not very far from me at all (20 or 30 feet?).
Fortunately, the couple behind me were dog people, and saw in what was to me a strange-scary dog one that was mostly just playful, I think. Pretty soon, the guy had the dog and theirs calmed down (theirs to complacency, the stranger-black to a dull roar) and was throwing a stick down into a dip for the stranger dog.
Problem solved. I doubled back, passing them, just after another throw of the stick, while the stranger-aggressive-dog was down in the dip and busy digging a stick (wonder if it was the right stick?) out of some ivy.
Because I had just enough courage to do that while someone who was comfortable with dogs kept this one busy. No way was I going on, and having to come back through that area alone. I was going to get in my car and leave but, by the time I'd made it back up the trail (the dog was never interested in following, that I saw - after all, he had attention while I was making my escape!), I was feeling better, and took another trail. Most of my pictures, and all the ones I posted, came from that second trail.
(1) Whoever owns that dog, if anyone, is an ass. And he looked too clean and well-fed, when I got a good look at him, to have been a stray very long if at all. (2) Poor park, having a dog tear up and down its non-trailed hillsides. Oh, well. There are supposedly deer in there and they have to be rough on the plant life too, I imagine.
My poor nerves. But I did manage to calm down again - first enough to stay, then, after walking awhile with no dogs, enough to enjoy.
Meh. Dogs.
There were a fair number of dog-walkers and, given that my phobia is basically down to the point where it only has to do with unrestrained, strange dogs, I was nervy (dogs!) but no more (leashes!). I would step to the edge of the trail when a jogger-and-dog passed me, and was doing pretty well.
The couple who parked next to me had a pair of dogs and they set off down the same trail I initially did, at the same meandering walking pace I was using (as opposed to the joggers, who zip past).
And after a while, I hear not too far behind me, sharp aggressive barking - which is responded to in kind by another dog. I turn back and there they are, with their two dogs...and a third, a black, dancing around them and barking and clearly unleashed, wherever he came from.
I almost lost it. See, when looking at the trails, I'd decided the one I wanted was too long to walk to the end in the time I'd given myself, so I'd intended to turn around and walk back. I therefore had not memorized the route I'd have to take if I went forward and tried to get back without retracing. Plus, this loose, aggressive dog was not very far from me at all (20 or 30 feet?).
Fortunately, the couple behind me were dog people, and saw in what was to me a strange-scary dog one that was mostly just playful, I think. Pretty soon, the guy had the dog and theirs calmed down (theirs to complacency, the stranger-black to a dull roar) and was throwing a stick down into a dip for the stranger dog.
Problem solved. I doubled back, passing them, just after another throw of the stick, while the stranger-aggressive-dog was down in the dip and busy digging a stick (wonder if it was the right stick?) out of some ivy.
Because I had just enough courage to do that while someone who was comfortable with dogs kept this one busy. No way was I going on, and having to come back through that area alone. I was going to get in my car and leave but, by the time I'd made it back up the trail (the dog was never interested in following, that I saw - after all, he had attention while I was making my escape!), I was feeling better, and took another trail. Most of my pictures, and all the ones I posted, came from that second trail.
(1) Whoever owns that dog, if anyone, is an ass. And he looked too clean and well-fed, when I got a good look at him, to have been a stray very long if at all. (2) Poor park, having a dog tear up and down its non-trailed hillsides. Oh, well. There are supposedly deer in there and they have to be rough on the plant life too, I imagine.
My poor nerves. But I did manage to calm down again - first enough to stay, then, after walking awhile with no dogs, enough to enjoy.
Meh. Dogs.
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I don't have any animal phobias but I still sympathize; unleashed and unwatched dogs can be scary even to those of us who normally are just keen on them. Plus, if one is in an area where there's a leash law, one should KEEP THE DOG ON A LEASH. Sheesh. The owner needs slapped.