A Dog’s Paradise in Owego [GALLERY]

Since we adopted Hagar, we've had friends that own dogs tell us to take him to the dog park at Hickories Park in Owego. We wanted to wait until he got a little older before we took him out there.

Last Wednesday, Chris took Hagar, now 10 and a half months old, to the park for the first time. She said he really enjoyed it and I told her I wished I could have been there with them. So Friday, after I got home from work, we loaded Hagar into my car and made the short ride to Owego.

When you first get to the park you notice the entire compound is fenced in. You have to decide which part of the dog park you want to enter. There is a smaller area for small dogs, a training center so you can teach your dog skills like you see on the Westminster Kennel Dog Show, and a huge fenced-in field for the dogs to run.

Just inside the gate, there are toys for the dogs to play with, in case you didn't bring your own. There's a trail for people to walk around while their dogs are inside the fence having fun, and benches to sit on if you get too tired watching your dog run around. There are fire hydrants throughout the park for the dogs to enjoy, and even a little kiddie pool that the dogs can climb in on hot summer days.

When we first got inside the field, there were another five or six dogs already in there. They all greeted each other the way dogs do. After they all sniffed each other’s butts, they started running around the field. One owner brought a tennis ball and a tennis ball launcher, and was playing fetch with his dog. My dog Hagar and another dog that was there, were having fun running behind the other Golden Retriever who was fetching the tennis balls.

Chris and I stood by the bench and spoke with some of the other dog parents that were there. A bunch of them must have been regulars because they all seem to know each they even knew some of the other dogs by name.

As time went, on more dogs kept showing up including a few Boxer mixes, and a Dobermann named "Stick". As more and more dogs came, I think Hagar started to feel a little overwhelmed and made his way towards the exit. He slept really well that night from all the running around while at the park.

If you have a dog that gets along well with other dogs, I highly recommend taking them to the Rebecca Weitsman Memorial Dog Park. Here are some of the photos I took of the park.