After the physical therapy swimming sessions at FlowDog on Saturdays, we take Kaiju to one of the two parks nearby. It has become our tradition, and he loves it.

One park is smaller, more traveled, with a lot of dogs running around off leash. When we go there, we sometimes let Kaiju off leash, too. We are very clearly the most nervous owners there. Others relax and chat with each other. We hover about and call his name in vain at the wrongest moments.

The other park is much bigger, and we rarely see other dogs. It is a nature conservation, and it provides a variety of landscape. We walk through an open space, woods, or marshland, across the creek, on board walks, and over the hills.

We had not been to this 2nd park in a while because of deep snow and icy surfaces. This past Saturday, it was warm and things had thawed everywhere, so we gave it a try. Kaiju was ecstatic. A bit too ecstatic. When he gets in this mode, he starts to growl and nip on the leash and our legs. He can’t seem to calm himself down. We either pick him up to help him chill, or make him sit with a high-value treat, and make him “stay” for a long time. We hadn’t seen this level of excitement in a while. Even if it is a pain to have to calm him down while being nipped at our legs, because he is rarely overly excited, we were actually quite satisfied.

Our weekends often become all about witnessing Kaiju excited and happy.