I visited Stow’s award-winning dog park, Bow Wow Beach, for the first time on Sunday, despite the fact that I cannot take my own dog there because he does not play well with others.

What a lovely afternoon it turned out to be, watching all the joyful dogs run and swim. We played “guess the breed” and scored for correctly guessing the Catahoula and the Pointer. We were largely ignored by the pups who were just so ecstatic to be free and had so much territory to smell, but a few did come up to see us for a pat. One personable pooch asked us to throw his ball for him a few times! A few honored us by exiting the lake and shaking off their drenched fur a few feet from us.

We sat in awe as we observed all the distinct personalities. So many “leaders” and so many “followers.” So many instigators and so many bashfuls. Being the owner of a hard-headed alpha I was a bit nervous around all the excitement, but thankfully all questionable situations were quickly calmed by observant pet parents.

Here are just some of the beautiful dogs we saw.