I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the Farm here & there in this blog. Well, today I'm going to tell you about The Farm.-Red River Dog Farm.
We've been taking our dogs to dog parks & dog events for years. We started with Galen & Sheba, but it didn't happen to often while we lived in Cleveland as we had the fenced in back yard for them to chill out in.
All of our dogs have different reactions to being at the dog park. Duchess used to go off by herself & explore. For that reason she loved the bigger parks that allowed her that option. Her favorites were Medina, Kirtland, & Huron. She didn't mind the other smaller parks if we were meeting someone there (Oberlin). She didn't interact too much with others. It was rare if she did. However, when she was OVER it, she would head to the gate & face out. Waiting for us to get the hint. She would have LOVED the Farm.
Athena....Athena thrived at dog parks. She was all about other dogs, running & chasing, (AND BARKING). She could spend forever at those places. If a park was empty, she was happy just exploring with her siblings. She got one visit a few weeks before she past & she LOVED IT!!!
Now Peryn & Lada. They are NOT normal. In the beginning, Peryn was all about wrestling with his buddies, but as he soon discovered FETCH & later -the herding ball-- dog parks were a vary different experience.
Peryn & Lada tend to play with each other either herding their ball or fetching a ball/toy. They're not necessarily into playing with other dogs. Depending on Peryn's mood, he may allow other dogs to play along. When he's like this, he encourages other dogs to play with his herding ball. Other times, nope. Don't come near him. He doesn't want to be bothered.
Lada does what Peryn does. That is only if she feels secure enough to be away from Mom.
So going to dog parks was more about the room for them to run than playing with other dogs. In fact, busy parks were often a pain as dogs & people would get in their way. When we arrived with the ball & let the dogs loose, we always had people coming up to us to ask about it. "They never have seen such a thing".
Peryn loves parks where he has the option to cool down while he plays (pool, pond, lake). He only uses them for the cool down. Now Lada, she likes to swim when fetching. Down side is there are only so many places with water for the dogs to swim. Medina (when not having issues), Kirtland (too long of a drive, Stow (again long drive). Finding the Farm was a miracle!
I first stumbled upon their website: https://www.redriverdogfarm.com/ when searching for a dog park that was nearer to us ( closest was almost 20 mins- Avon Lake) and that had swimming. I was unsure as it was a Member Only place. Wasn't sure if the fee was per dog or per family. So I held off for a bit.
When one of our long time Husky friends (met because of Duchess!) told us about it, I was able to ask questions & find out more. We did our Free Play Tour Visit last July. The minute I saw the place, I knew it was perfect for us.
- Large area for the dogs to play with their ball or fetch.....CHECK
- Swimming area for the kids in the summer.....CHECK
- Warm shelter for the freezing winter....CHECK*
- Swimming pools for a quick cool off ....CHECK
- Areas to explore & roam...CHECK
- Not having to deal with over crowding...or any people at all ....CHECK
- 15 Minutes from the house (closest park to date) CHECK
- Member Only. Better care for the place....CHECK
- Extremely nice owners who are making improvements for a better experience..>CHECK!
This place was/is perfect. They breed Portuguese Water Dogs who are often on the property. The dogs are sweet & hilarious & pretty much leave you alone. Even when they don't they're harmless, so there are no issues.
You'll notice I didn't mention Volos. Volos is in a category all by himself. He's not one to play with other dogs. He's more of a hang by his Momma kind of dog. When he's in the mood, he'll go off and explore on his own. He always makes his way back to my side though.
He's happy to just lay down at my feet or plop himself in front of me begging for pets while I play with the Chuck-It & Peryn & Lada.
My first thoughts when I toured the farm was that I couldn't wait to get Athena there. Even though her clock was winding down, I knew she would love it. I am so glad we were able to take her there. She was having a good day, so that made it even more special.
There have been a few downsides I'll admit for full-disclosure--that this day was a one off--but it was enough of an inconvenience to us. We stopped by one Saturday morning during the winter. A family member & friends were there to play ice hockey & took up most of the parking spaces (being a small member only place, there aren't that many). We ended up getting stuck in the snow & ignored by everyone on the ice. We were stuck for a half hour before we stopped & asked the next "friend" who showed up for help that we were able to get out.
Marti & Janet have since laid down more rocks to avoid this happening in the future. Additionally we have noticed a camera set up on the barn now. Heard from our friend that they were able to speak to them through the camera. So I don't foresee this being an issue in the future.
While the above happened, the family member also had the dogs running all around un-attended & a few of them continued to bother Peryn when he attempted to herd his ball. Dude was not happy. The others continued to bark at ours & made playing on their own a bit difficult.
This all was a 1-time thing & each visit we see more improvements to the Farm.
One more caveat. The neighbor tends to shoot his gun at times. So if your dog is extremely reactive to noises like that, be aware. We lived next to a gun range in the last house (in fact we can still hear it at times) so the sound of gun shots does nothing to them. They still carry on as if it's a normal day.
Volos---the sweet neurotic fluff ball is not a fan. So he tries to hide in or near the barn or in my arms. Most times there isn't any, so we have no issues.
Overall, this is the preferred place to go if you & your dog prefer the quieter side of parks or prefer to play by themselves (Or their pack).
At most, I've been there when 4 others families were there. No issues what-so-ever. My dogs did their thing, weren't bothered by the curious dogs that wandered over. Most times we're by ourselves. It's large enough with a small number of members to make it a pleasant visit.
Did I mention the barn? The course equipment? The toys? Yeah. There is a barn for the human's to rest in, keep out of the sun or cold. It's heated with a picnic table to rest at. A beverage or two.
If your dog is into running agility courses, there is equipment there for that. Need a toy to play with, a bucket of toys is right outside the barn. Your dog doesn't swim? A small pool is available for them to cool off in. Human needs to use the restroom, a "nice" (can you call the nice) port-a-potty is near the entrance.
They had a Lure there when we first signed up that was supposed to be getting fixed. I really would like to try that, so maybe one of these days it'll re-appear.
To view their page & find more information, click the picture below.
No comments:
Post a Comment