April 22, 2024 • 13 mins
We’ve become disconnected from the natural world around us. However, our dogs – and our dog parks – can help us reconnect to our environment in a more attentive and curious way. When we start to feel a deeper understanding of our place within the larger ecosystem, we can start to care more about protecting it and living symbiotically with all non-human creatures and wildlife.
In this episode, we hear from guest experts Annette McGivney, Anjulie Rao, and Ed Yong. This series is narrated by Jenna Blum, author and dog mom.
Dog Parkology is a show about the importance of dog parks as public space. The series is produced by As It Should Be Productions, the creators of the Dog Save The People and Dog Walk Meditation podcasts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to Dog Parkology, a show thatlooks at the concept of dog parks
through our relationship with dogs,with each other, and with the land.
In the previous episode of theseries, we explored how dog parks
can build communities that are moretight knit, safer, and welcoming.
(00:29):
The land we all share, ourenvironment, is not always considered
as much as it deserves to be.
Many people seem to have lost theirexcitement and appreciation for nature.
We take it for granted.
The constant pull of distractionsfrom our devices has made it more of a
challenge for people just to go outside.
(00:49):
The digital age has presented endless waysto be tempted into virtual consumption.
Whether it be social media,streaming services, online shopping,
and more, the attention economycompetes for every spare second.
Even when we do go outside, it can behard to focus on what's in front of us.
We still might be distracted by fearof missing out on what's happening
(01:10):
elsewhere, or just feeling like we'renot being productive with our time.
As our world has changed, we ashumans have grown disconnected
from the natural world, but the nonhuman species around us, like our
dogs, don't share our blind spots.
And in this way, we cantake a lesson from our dogs.
(01:32):
I love being plugged into Thecommunication of the natural
world, the trees talking to thewind, and the wind talking to the
birds, and the birds talking tomy dog, and the dog talking to me.
I'm part of that circle.
This is outdoor writer AnnetteMcGivney, who has found that
dogs are a transformational keyto unlocking our environment.
(01:58):
Only for the most recentsliver of our species history
have we been living indoors.
When I'm in nature, I'm actually pluggingin epigenetically to what my body needs
most and my nervous system needs most,even though we've forgotten about that.
Humans, it seems like we'reprone to disconnecting ourselves,
(02:21):
even if we're in nature.
You're not even noticing the beautyof where we are, you're just So
in your head and totally caughtup in talking to each other.
So having a dog with me helps toremind me how to enjoy nature.
When you're with a dog, you'relike, what is in those pine needles
and look at that bird and thatsquirrel and what's over here.
(02:46):
And so you're totally in the moment.
I want to focus on the beauty andmy dogs show me how to do that.
When we are in nature withour dogs, We are the students
and the dogs are the teachers.
It's up to us to take the initiativeto tap back into the natural world.
(03:08):
For dog parkology, we are lookingnot only at officially designated
dog parks, but a broader definition.
Anytime you step outside your home withyour dog, you have an opportunity to
find points of connection along the way.
Whether you're going for hikes in thewoods or running on a beach, we're not
limited to the traditional fenced inareas as long as you're making sure
(03:30):
to be responsible and respectful ofothers when having your dog off leash.
These kinds of dog parkologymoments can make you think about
your surroundings in a new way.
Even when you're living in a major city.
I think we have this concept ofnature as being synonymous with
grand, open, majestic spaces.
(03:52):
You ask people to think ofwilderness, and they think of
Yosemite, and Yellowstone, and Zion.
You don't think of your garden orlike the street around your house.
There's wilderness there too.
This is Ed Young, a BritishAmerican science journalist, whose
coverage of the pandemic in theAtlantic won him a Pulitzer Prize.
(04:15):
Ed's recent book, An ImmenseWorld, examines the sensory
realm of different animals.
While writing the book, he got a new dog.
The experience of having a caninecompanion helped Ed understand his work.
My dog is a Corgi.
His name is Typo.
He's two years old.
Whenever we go for walks, it's almosta sort of meditative experience.
(04:36):
Typo likes to sniff.
He likes to explore.
Dogs use their nose to adventurouslyinvestigate the world around them.
Every creature perceives theworld in its own unique way.
And that way might be very, verydifferent from what we humans experience.
(04:57):
I think a lot of dog owners, because ofour tendency to anthropomorphize, see in
their dogs a reflection of themselves.
And that's totally fine.
But I think that missessomething profound.
I know that Typo's experienceof the world is not my own.
I know he senses things very differently.
He thinks about the worldin a very different way.
(05:18):
And I love leaning into that difference.
It makes me constantly curious about whathe's thinking or what he's perceiving.
Typo enriches my life.
It makes me think about theworld in a more spiritual way.
A lot of my work is informed by thesevalues of curiosity and empathy.
(05:40):
I think both of these are muscles thatyou can learn to flex and, you know,
thinking about Typo and the way he sensesthe world allows me to flex both of them.
They think that through theseinformed imaginative leads, we
can be closer to nature, even inour normal, everyday existence.
(06:02):
While being out with Typo, who'sable to recognize so many types of
information through his nose withheightened perception, it has changed
the way Ed looks at his environment.
And I think that's important because ifwe don't feel that connection to nature,
if we only think of it as a remote anddistant thing that we might tap into on
(06:23):
a once in a lifetime vacation, then Wedon't feel the impetus to care for it if
we don't feel a connection to something.
I don't think we feel our responsibilitiesas stewards and guardians of it.
And I hope that all of our interactionswith the animals closest to us
make us feel a little bit closerto the entire natural world.
(06:51):
Even in the smallest details and moments,among trees, among plants, other animals,
we then develop a greater sense of place.
If we can bridge this gap to theliving world, we can open our
lives in new and unexpected ways.
When lockdown happened in 2020, therewas this mass re evaluation, I think
(07:13):
done by a lot of different people, aboutwhat is my relationship to this place?
This is Anjali Rao, who we met inour last episode, an architectural
journalist and critic whose workexplores connections to land.
We saw people leaving cities.
deciding that the relationship thatthey had to the city was one of
amenities characterized by accessto museums and concerts and theater
(07:38):
and shopping and not necessarily bya relationship with the land itself.
I did the re evaluationtoo, living in Chicago.
I had my trusty 100 year old dogmoving through the world with her
in a way that could be slower.
We could take longer walks and itwas a different way of experiencing
(07:58):
what it was like to even have ananimal to reevaluate our relationship
amongst an increasingly wilding world.
What I found was a connection likeobserving unusual flowers and weeds
that so often just get mowed over butwere neglected during the pandemic.
Those types of things reenchanted me with living here.
It was Anjali who introduced us tothe concept of re enchantment, which
(08:22):
inspired the theme of this episode.
Both Matthew Gandy and the essayistJennifer Woolf write about this idea that
through a different type of ecologicalrelationship with land, we re enchant
people with the city around them.
People tend to see parkland asbeing productive when it's really
well manicured, beautifullycultivated public gardens and parks.
(08:46):
The kind of Eurocentric understandingof, we go to the gardens to be
flinners and to look at people.
Oftentimes, landscape architects, cityofficials, they think of productive
in terms of an anthropocentric lens,that we center human experiences.
They are productive because they give kidsa place to hang out and sit in the shade.
(09:07):
They're productive becausethey host family reunions.
But a lot of parks also encourageall types of ecological urban life.
They host wildlife likebirds and foxes and possums.
I bond with my neighbors when we seeraccoons and skunks and everyone's
screaming or running away or you'reletting your little dog loose in this
(09:28):
garden and chasing him around andletting him romp through the flowers.
In Millennium Park in Chicago, therewas a family of foxes that moved in.
People were so excited.
It was too cute, justheartbreakers, all of them.
We're so excited when this happens,and yet we do everything in our
capacity to ensure that doesn't happen.
And so when we think about theconsequences of neglecting animals
(09:52):
and the animal presence in our cities,there are so many benefits to thinking
about dogs as being an intermediarybetween the more wild species.
Dog parks can be a piece of publicinfrastructure that accommodates
that idea of non human residents.
This can bring out our greater empathyfor our ecosystems and all living
things with which we share them.
(10:13):
Designing for non human speciescan be one of several mechanisms
that can upend our extractiverelationship with land and property.
It's a way of removing ourselvesfrom the conventional ways of
understanding what cities are for.
It's actually reframing that completely.
It's this way of reorienting yourselfin the world, understanding you're
(10:36):
a part of something much bigger.
It's a moment of clarity and a momentof connection for a lot of people.
That isn't just like we need socialspaces, but actually we need to have
a totally different relationshipwith the land that houses us.
Dog parks offer people a way toappreciate and connect with the
reality of your ecosystem ina way that is more meaningful.
(10:59):
All of these things re enchant us withthe places that we live and beckon us to
love them and beckon us to care for them.
We started this series with ahistorical mention of how the name
of the first dog park in Berkeleypaid tribute to the Ohlone tribe.
who had been on the land originally.
(11:21):
In Marion Schwartz's book, A Historyof Dogs in the Early Americas, she
writes, Native Americans understoodthat even though dogs resided in
the human camp, they had a closekinship with coyotes and wolves.
Because of these relationships, dogsoccupied and operated on several levels.
They connected the wild and the tame,and they joined nature and culture.
(11:45):
Dogs have a magical ability to remindus that we are part of the natural
world and should strive to protect it.
Time with your dog at any type of dogpark make us feel more connected to
and accountable to the earth around us.
Thank you for listening tothis episode of Dog Parkology.
(12:09):
I'm Jenna Blum, your narrator.
This show was created by As It Should BeProductions, the creators of Dog Save the
People and Dog Walk Meditation podcasts,with executive producer Scott Benaglio.
And producer and editor, Jack Summer.
Be sure to check out the entire seasonof Dog Park Allergy by following
(12:31):
the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can follow us on social mediaat Dog Park and Dog Save the People.
You can.
Visit our website, dog park college.comto learn more about the show and to buy
custom designed merch like our T-shirts.
If you know of any greatdog parks in your area.
(12:53):
or you've created your own dogparkology moment, you can email us
at dogparkology at gmail dot com.
We'd love to hear about your experience,and if you've enjoyed listening to this
episode, please share it with a friend.
Enjoy a trip to a dog park today,or wherever you go with your dog,
to appreciate nature, meet others,and make a better life together.
Welcome to Dog Parkology, a show thatlooks at the concept of dog parks
through our relationship with dogs,with each other, and with the land.
In the previous episode of theseries, we explored how dog parks
can build communities that are moretight knit, safer, and welcoming.
(00:29):
The land we all share, ourenvironment, is not always considered
as much as it deserves to be.
Many people seem to have lost theirexcitement and appreciation for nature.
We take it for granted.
The constant pull of distractionsfrom our devices has made it more of a
challenge for people just to go outside.
(00:49):
The digital age has presented endless waysto be tempted into virtual consumption.
Whether it be social media,streaming services, online shopping,
and more, the attention economycompetes for every spare second.
Even when we do go outside, it can behard to focus on what's in front of us.
We still might be distracted by fearof missing out on what's happening
(01:10):
elsewhere, or just feeling like we'renot being productive with our time.
As our world has changed, we ashumans have grown disconnected
from the natural world, but the nonhuman species around us, like our
dogs, don't share our blind spots.
And in this way, we cantake a lesson from our dogs.
(01:32):
I love being plugged into Thecommunication of the natural
world, the trees talking to thewind, and the wind talking to the
birds, and the birds talking tomy dog, and the dog talking to me.
I'm part of that circle.
This is outdoor writer AnnetteMcGivney, who has found that
dogs are a transformational keyto unlocking our environment.
(01:58):
Only for the most recentsliver of our species history
have we been living indoors.
When I'm in nature, I'm actually pluggingin epigenetically to what my body needs
most and my nervous system needs most,even though we've forgotten about that.
Humans, it seems like we'reprone to disconnecting ourselves,
(02:21):
even if we're in nature.
You're not even noticing the beautyof where we are, you're just So
in your head and totally caughtup in talking to each other.
So having a dog with me helps toremind me how to enjoy nature.
When you're with a dog, you'relike, what is in those pine needles
and look at that bird and thatsquirrel and what's over here.
(02:46):
And so you're totally in the moment.
I want to focus on the beauty andmy dogs show me how to do that.
When we are in nature withour dogs, We are the students
and the dogs are the teachers.
It's up to us to take the initiativeto tap back into the natural world.
(03:08):
For dog parkology, we are lookingnot only at officially designated
dog parks, but a broader definition.
Anytime you step outside your home withyour dog, you have an opportunity to
find points of connection along the way.
Whether you're going for hikes in thewoods or running on a beach, we're not
limited to the traditional fenced inareas as long as you're making sure
(03:30):
to be responsible and respectful ofothers when having your dog off leash.
These kinds of dog parkologymoments can make you think about
your surroundings in a new way.
Even when you're living in a major city.
I think we have this concept ofnature as being synonymous with
grand, open, majestic spaces.
(03:52):
You ask people to think ofwilderness, and they think of
Yosemite, and Yellowstone, and Zion.
You don't think of your garden orlike the street around your house.
There's wilderness there too.
This is Ed Young, a BritishAmerican science journalist, whose
coverage of the pandemic in theAtlantic won him a Pulitzer Prize.
(04:15):
Ed's recent book, An ImmenseWorld, examines the sensory
realm of different animals.
While writing the book, he got a new dog.
The experience of having a caninecompanion helped Ed understand his work.
My dog is a Corgi.
His name is Typo.
He's two years old.
Whenever we go for walks, it's almosta sort of meditative experience.
(04:36):
Typo likes to sniff.
He likes to explore.
Dogs use their nose to adventurouslyinvestigate the world around them.
Every creature perceives theworld in its own unique way.
And that way might be very, verydifferent from what we humans experience.
(04:57):
I think a lot of dog owners, because ofour tendency to anthropomorphize, see in
their dogs a reflection of themselves.
And that's totally fine.
But I think that missessomething profound.
I know that Typo's experienceof the world is not my own.
I know he senses things very differently.
He thinks about the worldin a very different way.
(05:18):
And I love leaning into that difference.
It makes me constantly curious about whathe's thinking or what he's perceiving.
Typo enriches my life.
It makes me think about theworld in a more spiritual way.
A lot of my work is informed by thesevalues of curiosity and empathy.
(05:40):
I think both of these are muscles thatyou can learn to flex and, you know,
thinking about Typo and the way he sensesthe world allows me to flex both of them.
They think that through theseinformed imaginative leads, we
can be closer to nature, even inour normal, everyday existence.
(06:02):
While being out with Typo, who'sable to recognize so many types of
information through his nose withheightened perception, it has changed
the way Ed looks at his environment.
And I think that's important because ifwe don't feel that connection to nature,
if we only think of it as a remote anddistant thing that we might tap into on
(06:23):
a once in a lifetime vacation, then Wedon't feel the impetus to care for it if
we don't feel a connection to something.
I don't think we feel our responsibilitiesas stewards and guardians of it.
And I hope that all of our interactionswith the animals closest to us
make us feel a little bit closerto the entire natural world.
(06:51):
Even in the smallest details and moments,among trees, among plants, other animals,
we then develop a greater sense of place.
If we can bridge this gap to theliving world, we can open our
lives in new and unexpected ways.
When lockdown happened in 2020, therewas this mass re evaluation, I think
(07:13):
done by a lot of different people, aboutwhat is my relationship to this place?
This is Anjali Rao, who we met inour last episode, an architectural
journalist and critic whose workexplores connections to land.
We saw people leaving cities.
deciding that the relationship thatthey had to the city was one of
amenities characterized by accessto museums and concerts and theater
(07:38):
and shopping and not necessarily bya relationship with the land itself.
I did the re evaluationtoo, living in Chicago.
I had my trusty 100 year old dogmoving through the world with her
in a way that could be slower.
We could take longer walks and itwas a different way of experiencing
(07:58):
what it was like to even have ananimal to reevaluate our relationship
amongst an increasingly wilding world.
What I found was a connection likeobserving unusual flowers and weeds
that so often just get mowed over butwere neglected during the pandemic.
Those types of things reenchanted me with living here.
It was Anjali who introduced us tothe concept of re enchantment, which
(08:22):
inspired the theme of this episode.
Both Matthew Gandy and the essayistJennifer Woolf write about this idea that
through a different type of ecologicalrelationship with land, we re enchant
people with the city around them.
People tend to see parkland asbeing productive when it's really
well manicured, beautifullycultivated public gardens and parks.
(08:46):
The kind of Eurocentric understandingof, we go to the gardens to be
flinners and to look at people.
Oftentimes, landscape architects, cityofficials, they think of productive
in terms of an anthropocentric lens,that we center human experiences.
They are productive because they give kidsa place to hang out and sit in the shade.
(09:07):
They're productive becausethey host family reunions.
But a lot of parks also encourageall types of ecological urban life.
They host wildlife likebirds and foxes and possums.
I bond with my neighbors when we seeraccoons and skunks and everyone's
screaming or running away or you'reletting your little dog loose in this
(09:28):
garden and chasing him around andletting him romp through the flowers.
In Millennium Park in Chicago, therewas a family of foxes that moved in.
People were so excited.
It was too cute, justheartbreakers, all of them.
We're so excited when this happens,and yet we do everything in our
capacity to ensure that doesn't happen.
And so when we think about theconsequences of neglecting animals
(09:52):
and the animal presence in our cities,there are so many benefits to thinking
about dogs as being an intermediarybetween the more wild species.
Dog parks can be a piece of publicinfrastructure that accommodates
that idea of non human residents.
This can bring out our greater empathyfor our ecosystems and all living
things with which we share them.
(10:13):
Designing for non human speciescan be one of several mechanisms
that can upend our extractiverelationship with land and property.
It's a way of removing ourselvesfrom the conventional ways of
understanding what cities are for.
It's actually reframing that completely.
It's this way of reorienting yourselfin the world, understanding you're
(10:36):
a part of something much bigger.
It's a moment of clarity and a momentof connection for a lot of people.
That isn't just like we need socialspaces, but actually we need to have
a totally different relationshipwith the land that houses us.
Dog parks offer people a way toappreciate and connect with the
reality of your ecosystem ina way that is more meaningful.
(10:59):
All of these things re enchant us withthe places that we live and beckon us to
love them and beckon us to care for them.
We started this series with ahistorical mention of how the name
of the first dog park in Berkeleypaid tribute to the Ohlone tribe.
who had been on the land originally.
(11:21):
In Marion Schwartz's book, A Historyof Dogs in the Early Americas, she
writes, Native Americans understoodthat even though dogs resided in
the human camp, they had a closekinship with coyotes and wolves.
Because of these relationships, dogsoccupied and operated on several levels.
They connected the wild and the tame,and they joined nature and culture.
(11:45):
Dogs have a magical ability to remindus that we are part of the natural
world and should strive to protect it.
Time with your dog at any type of dogpark make us feel more connected to
and accountable to the earth around us.
Thank you for listening tothis episode of Dog Parkology.
(12:09):
I'm Jenna Blum, your narrator.
This show was created by As It Should BeProductions, the creators of Dog Save the
People and Dog Walk Meditation podcasts,with executive producer Scott Benaglio.
And producer and editor, Jack Summer.
Be sure to check out the entire seasonof Dog Park Allergy by following
(12:31):
the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can follow us on social mediaat Dog Park and Dog Save the People.
You can.
Visit our website, dog park college.comto learn more about the show and to buy
custom designed merch like our T-shirts.
If you know of any greatdog parks in your area.
(12:53):
or you've created your own dogparkology moment, you can email us
at dogparkology at gmail dot com.
We'd love to hear about your experience,and if you've enjoyed listening to this
episode, please share it with a friend.
Enjoy a trip to a dog park today,or wherever you go with your dog,
to appreciate nature, meet others,and make a better life together.
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