Let me preface this story by saying that my town for some reason is overly obsessed with the spotted salamander. It lays its eggs in vernal pools which only form in the spring. It is not an endangered species. When I was going to tear down my old house, on my property, and build a new one right in the same place, I had a 2 year fight on my hands to get the permits. All because the conservation committee is obsessed with protecting the spotted salamander.
Yesterday, I went to take Wolfie for a walk around the lake. It's a 5 minute drive to get there and 4 miles around. It was a gorgeous Sunday, and I could not find a place to park at the lake. I went to get gas, and then drove over to a park that has hiking trails through the woods. Unfortunately, there was a big baseball game going on, and the only access to the trails is to cut through the baseball field. I decided to head home, and then remembered the meadow near my house. It's a big meadow that borders woods with all kinds of different hiking trails. We went there,got out of the car, walked through the meadow to the trails. At the entrance to the trails is a big sign that says" No Dogs Allowed in the Spring because they might step in the vernal pools and injure a spotted salamander!" This town has gone completely off it's rocker! I decided to go back through the meadow, and play with him a little, and practice training. When we got near the middle of the meadow, there were two grown adults, spread out on a blanket, doing things in the tall grass that shouldn't be done in public! I gave up, and took Wolfie home, where we did some training in the yard. Stupid Spotted Salamanders!