5/5 DeeCeeHawk 5 years ago on Google
Bark
Plaza
- Scott
Holman,
Boston
Globe
Sunday
Magazine
Many
forces influence
social
order-
money, peer, fane,
lineage,
political leanings,
and
so
on.
The
metrics
of
animals
use
are
more
difficult
to
discern,
at
least,
to
the casual
observer.
Size?
Smell?
Behavior?And
how
do
they
figure
it
out
on
the
spot?
I
have
always
been
fascinated
by
this
at
dog
parks,
which
are
like
canine
social laboratories.
What
determines
who
chases
whom?
Why
is
one
poor
pup designated
as
the
hunted?
How
can
it
be
a
single
dog
can
leave
or
arrive
and
the
whole
dynamic
shifts?
I
was watching
and
listening
recently
at
the
South
Boston
Bark
Park,
a
nicely
kept
retreat
right
off
Carson
Beach.
The
motley
crew
included
a
Scottish
Terrier
in
a
Bruins
get-up,
a
couple
of
Labs,
a
beagle,
a
West
Highlands
white terrier,
and
a
few
that
looked
like
mutts.
They barked,
they
growled,
they mewled,
and
they tore across
the pebbles
after
tennis
balls
as
if
their
lives
depended
on
it.
Owners
and
dog
walkers
chatted
near
the fence,
swapping
stories
like
parents
at
the
playground.
With
a
breeze
coming
off
the
ocean
and
a
blue
sky overhead,
I
thought
to
myself, these dogs
could
have it
far worse.