In 2003, seven years before my daughter came along, my husband and I adopted our first baby-a puppy we named Shrek. He was the cutest ball of fur, loved to smile and had boundless energy. We were totally unprepared to be dog parents but have loved having him in our family-even when we come home from work and found that he ripped apart the pillow top in our mattress and was nestled into the middle.
When I was pregnant, one of my biggest fears was how life would be when introducing Shrek to the newest addition. Our dog is to put it as gentle as possible, crazy. If dogs could go to mental asylums, he would have been committed years ago. Shrek is sweet natured and loves life more than any other living thing I know, but there had to be some wires in his brain that never connected. Luckily, my fears were for naught, while he is still just as insane as ever-life with a fur child and human child has been just as fun as I imagined. My husband and I love doing this as a family-the whole family including Shrek. There are a ton of dog parks in the area as well as events that we can attend, but below are the five places I know I will go this year
One of our favorite things to do is to go to White Rock Lake Dog Park, which was Dallas’ first city dog park. I love that there are two separate parks depending on the size of your pup as well as an off leash area where our water loving Spaniel can swim when the weather is nice. Somehow Shrek always finds a way to become covered in mud so we always are careful to pack towels to clean him off before putting him back in the car.
Every Easter, the city of Rowlett hosts Pup-apalooza. This year, the event will be located at Herfurth Park. In the years past, we have taken pictures with the Easter Bunny, hunted for eggs, bobbed for hot dogs and let Shrek run around with other pups in an off leash area. I will be there on March 24th-just don’t be like me last year and forget your proof of rabies vaccination (which is great advice for every public event you bring your pet to), otherwise you will not get to partake and have one sad dog on your leash!
Strut your Mutt is one of my favorite events. It is a family friendly 3k walk/run or 5k timed run benefiting SPCA of Dallas this year taking place in Fair Park. This year the walk will be taking place on April 27th and registration is currently $35. Children under the age of 12 are free. We adopted Shrek from a shelter so it is important to us as a family to give back to the organizations that gave us so much.
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ne event that will be new for us this year is the Dallas Pet Expo, happening on June 8th at the Tower Building in Fair Park. Not only do they promise to have a ton of vendors for me to check out the latest and greatest pet products but they also will have a pet costume contest. Some people think it is mean but I’m a sucker for pets in costumes! Shrek is too big for traditional pet costumes so we usually buy children’s costumes and adapt them, he has been a Transformer, Shrek, and a loaf of Wonder Bread in years past.
Lastly, one of my favorite things to do is Sunday Brunch-anytime of the year. While it takes a little more effort, Dallas has many restaurants that have pet friendly patios but my favorite by far is the Gloria’s on Greenville Ave. Not only is the food delicious, they have giant mimosas for $1 each and my daughter will seat and eat their bean dip as long as they keep it coming (until you ask them to stop) which means that a long, relaxing brunch can be had for the entire family!
