Austin is definitely a dog lover's town. The City maintains 12 off-leash areas, one of which we visited this weekend -
Red Bud Isle. Red Bud features a half-mile hiking trail on the shore of Lady Bird Lake with swimming holes and open areas where dogs can run, swim, and play off-leash. We had the absolute best time. Izzy was in heaven. She ran and ran and ran to her heart's content off leash chasing and being chased by other dogs. And of course, we ran too trying to keep up with her! There were dogs everywhere, all kinds of dogs, dogs swimming, playing fetch in the water, running in packs, hanging out enjoying each other's company. Since we've never taken Izzy swimming, we were hoping that she would catch the bug when she saw other dogs doing it. She was indeed curious, even venturing out on these big roots when she saw kayakers in the distance. Much to our amazement (and hers too), she balanced perfectly and jumped from root to root without falling in. We're hoping that next time she'll be adventurous enough to jump in. We can't wait to go back. It's such a special place and one of my greatest joys in life is watching dogs playing and running full out.
We've also heard some wonderful things about another dog park,
Bull Creek . 48 acres of doggie paradise! Unfortunately, the
City is proposing to close it temporarily so it can restore vegetation and also require dogs to be on a leash. Guess we better make a trip there soon!
