With all the condo construction running amok across Chicago it was nice to have a rare sighting of a dog playing in a spacious backyard.
This picture was taken on the 2900-block of North Sheffield Avenue, an area which is particularly rife with new construction as we’ve mentioned before.
We often wonder if big dogs get frustrated by the tiny spaces we squeeze them into.
We wonder the same thing about kids. Maybe the families moving to the South Loop and McKinley Park have the right idea. At least South Loopers have Soldier Field to sled around in winter (as we’re told by one family) and there’s Grant Park for frisbee-throwing and McKinley Park looks nice and big too. But a lot of parks in other neighborhoods are depressingly small.
But we’re taking bids on how long before this Lake View property is sold and Fido has to get used to condo life. Drop us a line about how your dog is surviving city life or if you’ve spotted any impressively large yards this side of the bungalow belt.
I have only some impressionistic evidence for this, but I’ve had an abiding suspicion that kids, like goldfish, grow to a size proportionate to the space you raise them in. Raise kids in small spaces: grow small adults.
No Randy Newman lyrics, please.
Ah, so that explains my zaftig proportions, Joe – I was raised on a 7-acre farm… The prevalence of parks in the city is admirable, but there’s nothing like a child being able to burst through the screen door and out into the backyard for hours of relatively secure but independent fun. Of course, that’s what led to the numerous bee stings, scrapes and bruises of my childhood, but I survived.
I have the pleasure of living among twentysomethings who keep dogs in their studios. Constant barking and rapping at my door, yes, but they’re toy-sized and cute. I doubt they appreciate their living conditions (dogs cry, too, you know).
It would be interesting if size were a nature v. nurture issue (lol). I grew up in a small townhouse, which meant that I had to share a room with three of my sisters. We had two sets of bunk beds in a room with a relatively low ceiling. Now we’re all under 5’5 – though I am beginning to question doctors measuring me at 5’4, since my friends who appear to be my height claim they’re 5’10; some exaggerating is going on here. My sisters and I had comparably wealthy cousins who grew up in a large house and are all short now. I could come up with some non-hereditary theories on that. But I digress…