The Enoses: Stevie's Heaven on Earth

After we went up to Dad's, where Stevie got to roam around off leash for days, we saw how much she LOVED being free. She was a different dog, nowhere near as neurotic and much better exercised when she was allowed to run free. So, we managed to find ONE place in the whole state of Massachusetts that is both unfenced AND off-leash. It is called either "Stodder's Neck" or "Stoddard's Neck" (we have seen it spelled both ways) and it is in Hingham. It is basically a big, round hill about a mile around that is also a peninsula because it is surrounded on three sides by water, and Stevie LOVES it.

The first time we didn't dare let her off the leash, because there were things like other dogs and people there. We had no idea what Stevie would do. But the second visit, we got brave and let her off the leash. She did great! She would wander off in the woods and reappear in front of us, waiting for us to catch up. Then she'd disappear into the woods again, we'd keep walking, and she would come running up behind us. She was in seventh heaven. She even did great with other dogs, running and playing with each one and then moving on to the next one. Our only complaint was that she sometimes would not come when we called her if she was busy playing with another puppy, but we expected that, and we have since been working on that with her. So we have been back twice since that day, and we can easily say it is her favorite place in the universe. The first time we tried her off leash, Danny took her down to the water. She would BARELY put a foot in. She hates the bath at home, and I can only imagine this looked like one giant bathtub to her. Then the next time we took her, she saw another dog splashing around in the water. This encouraged her to hesitantly splash too, but only up to her belly. Then we went today, and Danny got her to go after a stick he threw, ALL THE WAY UP TO HER HEAD!! She was actually doggy paddling! We were so proud of her!