West Coast Park

The dog run at West Coast Park is our favorite. It’s nowhere near us though. But it’s worth the drive because the dog seems to like this dog run best. At 22,000 sqm, it's the biggest on the island. It’s huge, filled with seats and shade for humans, and not many loose stones and gravel to hurt little paws.

Went out to the park with Nesta the black and tan Shiba Inu and his pawents. Nesta is one of Choya's first fweeends. He was taken aback by Choya's initial puppy enthusiasm when she greeted him with crazy jumps and barks. Hahahaha. He's only six months younger. His pawrents warned us of a mean and nasty streak. We thought not! He's a sweet boi! Each time we see him, he's always super well-behaved and very tolerant of our naughty girl. You know how Shibas play crazy—fangs out.

It was a crowded morning with plenty of dogs, but the space was still lovely. The dogs had a ball of a time running around, sniffing butts and chasing one another's tails. Luckily for the humans, the dogs got tired fast, and we could head off for a much-needed dose of caffeine. Hahaha. While Choya and Nesta were alert and all, they weren't keen on running anymore. And Nesta ran a lot more than Choya did.

I hear people's warnings about ticks at dog runs in the parks. I have taken steps to avoid bringing ticks home. (Although I'm sure that day will come.) It's a little harder to control the dog from getting fleas from other dogs. Thank goodness she isn’t that sociable and doesn’t really like rolling around with other dogs. The dog's on flea and tick control meds, and after every romp before we get into the car, I brush her to check for ticks and such, and wipe her down. Once we get home, she walks through the usual antiseptic foot-bath and gets another wipe-down. It's a hassle, but it has to be done.

Singapore's heat and humidity will ensure that our brown dog ticks are fairly active all year round. We don't have deer or wild boar or much wildlife in these man-made parks; which would reduce the possibility of contracting Lyme disease via the infected black-legged deer ticks. The ticks should cause minimal annoyance. I wouldn't like to have to deal with a tick infestation at home, but I'm most certainly not going to coddle the dog and avoid letting her out to run and roll around in grass. Of course I'm not going to go into bird mites, whatever mites, rat droppings and all that. Then the dog might as well stay at home and not go anywhere.