Is Woodbridge Dog Central?

Woodbridge has a large quantity of dogs. I’m not referring to loose, stray ones that could be a nuisance to the community. No, it’s the vast portion of single family homes that house an extra family member that isn’t blood related.

My neighborhood has to be the Mecca for blood hounds. There are dogs everywhere you look. My court alone, with only around twenty homes, has a dozen different pooches. Our dog, a dachshund and Scottish terrier mix, shoots the wind with half of these dogs every week (if you call shooting the wind high-pitched barks and sniffs in inappropriate regions). Don’t get me wrong, I love our spunky, harmless family member. The only problem being the obsessed-owner bunch.

If the obsessed dog owners had to appoint a leader to maintain their over-the-top infatuation with the species that person would be my mother. She treats JD (our dog) better than me on my better days. This is the lady who boasts a dachshund shrine as our fourth bedroom. Everything in the room is dachshund-themed, besides the bed frame. The bed sheets, blankets, pillows, decorative plates on the wall, over-hanging lamp and toilet paper are all branded with dachshunds in some format.

JD is special. At least my mom thinks so. He once fell down our hardwood-floor flight of stairs and is now carried up and down every morning and night. His four water dishes throughout the house are refilled hourly. He once nearly choked on a new dog bone we bought him. My mother wrote a strongly-worded letter to the manufacturer and was rewarded with a year supply of dog food. JD wasn’t allowed to eat any (“it’s the principle of the thing” - my mom) and instead my mom donated it to a dog charity. JD is first in line for opening presents on Christmas morning. He eats more human food (as we call it) for dinner than my mom usually does.

Our dog lives a life of luxury and the funny thing is; I’m sure a ton of others in the area do too.

I typically see dogs with their owners (not the other way around) at Fantasy Playground as I run down Mohican drive. By the time I run past the small-park and basketball court on Deepford, I will have passed a handful of other dog-owner couples. The dogs are as happy as can be and even more so are their owners.

People become attached to their dog very easily. I’m no exception to this. I love our dog like he’s a brother. But not to the point where he is MY master (ah-hummm, mother are you listening?).

Seeing this sense of love and attachment for pets is one of the things I admire most about living in Woodbridge. My neighborhood feels like a true community when you see people out-and-about walking their dogs.

Walking their pets seems to be almost a social event. Neighbors are conversing with one another as their significant others tug at their arm if to say, “Hey, we have more investigating to do, don’t slow us down now!”

Do you agree that Woodbridge is dog central? Do you or your family own a pet? Or even better, does my mom sound familiar to someone you know?

* Interested in donating or adopting a dog with the PWC SPCA? Find out here for more information *