Victory

Obviously, any readers of this blog should be able to tell how much I love my dog. She truly is part of our little family and we treat her as such. She gets attention and loves and snuggles and we try our best to make sure she's living a comfortable life. I have always had a passion for animals...I believe animals are good for the soul - and if you're feeling down in the dumps, they have a way of making you smile anyway. Even when I was little, I never played with dolls or barbies - for me, it was ALL about either our real animals or my stuffed animals.
When I was about 6 or 7 years old, my mom took me to the doctor because I was consistently dealing with a stuffy nose. Well of course, they told her I had allergies and to get rid of our pets and all my stuffed animals and try to make my bedroom as dust free as possible. If I remember correctly she chuckled when the doctor said that because she KNEW that wasn't going to happen. I sooooo did not care that I had a stuffy nose, or that our cats would make my eyes itch - I simply could not live without my pets, I would have been a miserable child. At the time, we had 2 cats and 2 guinea pigs. A few years later, we moved out to the country and ended up with 2 dogs, 3 cats, a bunny rabbit, and the guinea pigs. I was in heaven with all my animals and was more than willing to deal with allergies.
Now here I am with three cats and a dog and while it can be chaotic sometimes - and yes, I still have allergy issues as well as some asthma issues....I just love it. There is nothing like coming home to a houseful of unconditional love.
One of the things we try and do almost every weekend is go to the dog park. It kinda sucks because it's quite a drive to get out there, but Georgia loves it so much that we feel it's very important for her to have that social interaction being that she's our only dog. We always meet and chat with the nicest people out there...I'm not sure what it is exactly - but there is just a certain comraderie between dog owners, so it's been a nice social thing for hubs and I as well.
We've attended fundraisers and dog park workdays helping to spread woodchips and things like that....and really wishing we had a dog park closer to home so we could go more often. We became members of the local dog park association in hopes that eventually one would be approved here in town closer to home.
Last night, we attended a city council meeting about the dog park, and the public hearing for that subject alone lasted almost 2 hours. Being pregnant and all, sitting anywhere for 2 hours is not exactly comfortable - but it was fascinating hearing what everyone had to say on the matter. Back in August, the city council approved the dog park - but then some local residents became up in arms about it and everything got stuck in appeal. So last night was a last ditch effort for everyone involved. Some residents stood up and expressed their concerns...some very VALID concerns - some just completely ridiculous concerns....and while it was easy to see their point of view...those of us who actually attend the dog park with frequency knew that their worries would not be an issue. There is an apartment building owner across the street from the park who had hired a lawyer/spokesperson and spent WAAAAY too long at the podium and bringing up some ridiculous points of view that had alot of us just rolling our eyes.
Anyway - when all was said and done...the city council had done a good job with their poker faces and none of were sure which way they were going to vote. One by one, each council member voiced themselves in favor of the park - and so we won 5-0...hands down! It's so exciting because now it's like a done deal, no more appeals - we're actually going to get a dog park.
Course it still has to be built and fundraisers have to be done and all the logistics still have to be worked out...but we're on our way. I have a feeling I could potentially be there almost every day - sometimes there's just nothing better than a worn out and happy dog - and a cup of coffee with friends :)