Merry be the creatures that dart on the grass, tails wagging, eyes fixated on whatever ball, disc, shoe, plastic bag that flies through the air above them, like it was the meaning of life itself. And merry be the ones that throw the ball, disc, shoe or plastic bag, faces lit with expectant joy, watching their dogs ran back and forth in the parks, yards, or particularly spacious living rooms.
As of 2016, Atlanta was in the top ten of best cities for dogs in the country, with 54 percent of households owning at least one dog. The city also has over 3000 acres of parkland — that’s 3000 acres for tens of thousands of Atlanta dogs to lie, sleep, chase and fetch; and that’s not even including the metro area’s spacious sidewalks, where dogs of all shapes and sizes could be seen strolling or being strolled down the street at the ends of leashes, poking out of handbags or snuggled inside baby strollers. Even with winter approaching, many dogs and dog owners are undeterred to make the best use out of what the city has to offer.
“Oh, Mandy loves this weather,” said Wallace, sitting on the bench at Piedmont Park, patting the yellow-white fur of his dog, Mandy, who, like her owner, didn’t seem bothered by the 36ºF temperature. They were the two solitary figures in an otherwise deserted park, so cold and windy was the day that citizens trembled around in a hypothermic shade of purple. Mandy the dog, on the other hand, seemed as content as could be, her big-dog strength and heavy fur coat allowing her to roam the streets shoeless and sweater-less, unlike smaller dogs. As Wallace lives in a condo right across the street from Piedmont Park, he was free to take her out for a walk every single day. Mandy, reasonably, enjoys wintertime.
But not all dogs get to enjoy their brisk walks as frequently as Mandy. Being a city dogs come with its difficulties: the strollers and dog bars are great, but so often their big-city humans are too occupied with their big-city jobs for the two to enjoy these strollers and bars together.
“It’s certainly hard to get Doug exercised with [my and my girlfriend’s] job,” said David, who is a professor and who named his dog after the cartoon animal from the movie “Up.” “But we find a balance. Doug loves doing obstacle courses, so fortunately that can be done in our apartment.” Playtime with Doug also includes wielding a toy fishing pole with something dangling from the end, which becomes the object of Doug’s circular chase. “It’s fun,” he said and chuckled.
“We do take him out, but it depends on our work schedules. We’d take him on a walk through our neighborhood, but he doesn’t do well with other dogs so we don’t take him to dog parks,” said David.
Will, who recently graduated from college, shared his struggles to find time with his dog, Chubbs. “I take Chubbs out whenever I can. I find myself spending time with him early in the morning or late at night. My transition into adulthood makes it hard for me to visit him. My dad also has trouble due to his work schedule. Sometimes, I seek others that may be willing to take care of him.”
For many people, if it’s already tricky to exercise dogs most times of the year, it only gets trickier during the winter. Not only does the harsh weather make them reluctant to go out, the time available to do so is not ideal. Surfacing data has suggested that, like humans, dogs suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, which makes them, as the disorder’s acronym fittingly describes, SAD. To help their canines friends get over the Winter Blues, dog owners are encouraged to expose their dogs to more daylight, but in Atlanta’s winter, sunrise could be as late as 7:43 a.m. and sunset as early as 5:28 p.m., making dog walking in the sunlight a weekend-only activity for nine-to-five workers and harried college students.
“You’ve just got to make adjustment to your lifestyle,” said Steve, a college professor walking with his dog, Laddie, in Piedmont Park at 4 p.m. “It’s like having a kid … No, don’t eat that, Laddie, that’s a leaf.”
David agreed. “You have to make yourself available and be willing to tailor your life to your animal.” This Thanksgiving, David and his girlfriend was planning to fly northward to their relatives, but lack of a dog-sitter for Doug put the brakes on that plan. Unwilling to put him in a kennel, the couple decides to drive instead so that he could come along. One hopes Doug enjoys long road trips as much as his cartoon namesake, for a two-hour flight has now turned into an 18-hour drive. “Eighteen hours!” David exclaimed at the prospect.
