Park: Sepulveda Basin Off-Leash Dog Park
Address: 17550 Victory Blvd., Encino, CA 91436. It's off of the 405 Freeway, exit Victory Blvd., make a right to head west of the freeway, and it's on the corner of White Oak and Victory Boulevards.
Website: http://www.yelp.com/biz/sepulveda-basin-off-leash-dog-park-encino?rpp=40&sort_by=date_desc
"Must Love Dogs" is a cute movie made in 2005, starred by Diane Lane and John Cusack. They met online, and decided to meet for the first time at a dog park with their dogs. One of my favorite part of this movie, although cheesy, is when the father recited the W.M. Butler Yates poem "Brown Penny".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itCIn_3YB_c
I whispered, 'I am too young,'
And then, 'I am old enough';
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
'Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair.'
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.
O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.It's such as beautiful, simple poem, and delivered amazingly, at the right moment. Hence the cheesy-ness. Love is a wonderful feeling, and for all of the uneasiness, pain and laughter, and excitement love brings, of not knowing the unknown that is love, relationship, commitment and devotion, you just have to jump in with both eyes closed, and let the chips fall where they may, and take a chance - - because at the end of the day, it's worth it all. Take a chance, rather than not taking a chance at all, and end up wondering the "what-if's". And life is too short to be living in the "what-if'" moment. And love is still, one of the best emotions to ever experience in this world. In that moment, nothing else mattered. The characters also debated about the the best places to meet single people (supermarket, Home Depot). But I think dog parks like this one are a better way to meet single people, IMO.
Sepulveda Dog Park has three sections; for small dogs, large dogs, and the timid dogs. We are pros, so we went straight to the large dog area. The largest dog park we've ever been to so far; the large dog area alone is about 5 acres. And it's grass, not mulch; which is great; but because it's about high 70's, the dirt is hard; which is not so perfect for Tico, who skids and brakes when he catches the ball. So after we noticed that his paw's tough skin and his 'shin' area are bleeding from those skids, we rested and stopped for the day. But we still had a good 45-minute romp around the area. There are large dogs of every kind everywhere; but my favorite was a family of Tico look-alikes; the picture showed the papa GSD on the right, the mama GSD to the left, and the 9 month old daughter GSD in the center. They loved our dog too. GSD owners are; for the most part, loyal to the breed. The GSD's are energetic, loyal, and intelligent. We just have to be careful to not let him jump around too much because his breed are prone to hip displacement. And our adventure to the Huntington Dog Beach last week concerned us; because he jumped down a ditch that was at least 6 feet high; and for the next two days after that, he was wincing.
This dog park is large; and you don't feel congested with other dog and owners; and you can freely use your chuck-it to your heart's content without even worrying about hitting a person with a ball/stick in the head (which I did once - - and it was a running joke with B and I since). People are nice, but you see a lot of dog owners who actually bring their own chairs, and socialize with groups of other dog owners on the corner. I've seen about half a dozen of those, with more than 6 owners. What does this mean to me? It means that there are other dogs that run around unattended, who poos, humps, etc. other dogs. It does not bother Tico per say, because he's a loner by nature; but to other dog owners who are far more attentive to their dogs, I can see it being a PITA when your golden retriever is being humped by a lab.
I think it would be perfect for single people with dogs to find quality people to date there as oppose to meeting them at bars, etc., (I met B at a bar so I'm not "dogging" it as a bad place to find dates, but it's a slim chance to find someone to have a relationship with when alcohol is added to the mix) but I don't see the whole lot of regular people, young and old, socializing in one corner and forgetting about your dog. What's the point? I don't get it. Isn't the point of being at a dog park is to have QT with your dog at a larger space than your own house provide? Our house is 1200sf with a carport for a yard. So dog parks and dog beaches are underappreciated for the value that they give me, B and our 90 pound dog.
The basin is just right behind the dog park, and the dog park is visible from the road; so it's in a perfect spot, in a nice neighborhood. If not for the tough dirt, we could see coming here more often. But I am a worry-wart; and I don't like blood. Tico can't actually come up to me and say "I'm hurting" - - please take me to the emergency. So a date with hydrogen peroxide will be in today's plans. He's a tough dog, but I don't like leaving open wounds for a long time.
Tico did the 3-ball in the mouth trick again today, but I only managed to take pictures of him with two; because he runs away from me too fast for the fear that I may steal his loot. As if.
There was this 86 yo filipina lady who chatted up with me. She said her youngest daughter, is getting married for the first time, at a young age of 56 to a 62 yo fellow filipino she met at a church. She also said that one of her grand daughter got married at the age of 38 as well (as am I); and she gave birth to her son for the first time at the age of 42; so there is hope for me after all. Mrs. Garcia, the lovely lady, said she had 5 kids by the age of 30, and she married a young'n as well; her husband, who is sitting at a bench nearby, was 5 years younger than she is. That meant he had 5 kids at the age of 25. Holy moly. I regularly hang out with about 8 or so ladies; all ranging from 30 to early 40's, and only one of them has a (3yo) child. Crazy to think any one of us being eligible to be grandparents at 41! Lol. But I think it's an LA thing. Most of my girlfriends in Hawaii are mothers, some with 4 kids!
I would think Tico would go crazy over these ducks, but it didn't faze him, maybe because he was too tired, but he was not as fascinated as he was when he saw a school of koi's on our trip to San Diego a few years ago. I guess his taste is more asian than I thought. He's more into sushi than foie gras (kidding).
This animal is very friendly. She\he was a few inches away from me; hoping to see if I could hand him\her some bread; but 1)I didn't have any, and 2) there's signs everywhere telling you to not feed the animals. But people will bring loaves of bread here, to attract the ducks, etc. There was a beautiful swan that was getting a lot of attention from these feeders, and I am worried that she will be too bloated from all of those bread by the end of the day. Like my dog, she won't, and can't say no to food. And with too many people coming in and going to feed her, I can see it being a huge problem.
On our way home, on the 405 and 105 freeway interchange, another lucky you live in LA moment; snow-capped mountains 1 1/2 hours away, in the distance; in view from greater LA at 70+ something degree weather. Behind us, is the Manhattan Beach 10 minutes away. We were lucky to get great weather since yesterday, after weeks of 40+ weather, a 30 degree increase is a welcome change; and being on the weekends, it couldn't have come at a better time.
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