One of the little-known iinstitutionsi in Buffalo is the fraternity of people who regularly walk their dogs in Delaware Park, particularly in that section of the park bounded by Delaware, Rumsey Road, Lincoln Parkway, and Hoyt Lake. I call them the Delaware Park Dogwalkers. Some have been at it for more than twenty years. Most of the current dog walkers know each other by sight and by dog (and dogis name). Eventually, they learn each otheris names. Some become good friends. They are drawn together by their love of dogs, and keep returning for the special camaraderie that idog peoplei share.
The dogs of Delaware Park come in all sizes and colors and coats. They walk up Lincoln Parkway and Windsor Avenue in ones and twos and even threes in the damp gray morning or they come in SUVs, sedans, and station wagons that pull up to the curb in the weak winter sunlight later in the day. Some are pampered pedigreed pooches and some are rough and tough mixed breeds. Some have only known love and kindness and others suffered cruelty and deprivation before some kind person rescued them. They are ball hawks and stick fetchers and sniffers and barkers and wrestlers and squirrel chasers. Whatever their antecedents and personalities, the dogs of Delaware Park are some of the luckiest dogs in the world to have such a place to run and people who love them enough to bring them almost every day.
The Dogwalkers trek through the park singly, in pairs, and sometimes in bigger groups, their dogs ranging all around them. The dogs sniff every tree and shrub to find whois been before them and explore every thicket in hopes of rousting a slow, unlucky squirrel. Somebody throws a stick, but without fail, the people give up throwing things before the dogs are ready to stop chasing them. Some dogs, usually of the Lab persuasion, complain loudly. The people stop and talk. The dogs wander and sniff. They romp across the soccer field in exuberant packs of two or three. Especially when thereis fresh snow, theyire always up for a game of icatch me if you cani or a good wrestling match.
A newcomer and his dog come up the path from the opposite direction. Whether the people notice them or not, the dogs always do. Newbies are inspected with arched necks, wagging tails, some ruffled hair along the spines. Regulars are checked out and then join the group. Dog etiquette requires certain canine rituals that non-dog people find igrossi but which Dogwalkers just accept as ithatis how dogs are.i
The Dogwalkers in Delaware Park arenit a formal group, and thereis no membership list, no dues, no insignia, but meetings are held almost daily, primarily in the late afternoons, and mostly near the soccer field. The best-attended meetings generally occur in the late fall through winter and into early spring when limited daylight and breaks in the chancy weather lure the Dogwalkers and their canine companions to the park in the mid to late afternoons. Thereis only one membership requirement: you must bring your pup regularly to Delaware Park to run free with his dog friends. The benefits, though, are priceless: happier, healthier dogs and happier, healthier Dogwalkers.
Come to the park with your dog and check out the Dogwalkers. Youill find them a friendly group and be hard put to find a frown among the lot whenever their pups are at play!