When you stand side by side at the dog park, you can reveal your true selves – but not your names
当狗狗主人们在公园畅谈时，大家会交付真心，但不会告知姓名
Pet owners know what it’s like to form long-lasting connections with complete strangers, but remember: what’s said at the dog park stays at the dog park
宠物主人可以体会与完全陌生的人建立持久的联系是什么感觉，但请记住：不要把在遛狗公园里说的话带出公园
There’s a universal truth about dog parks: if you go to one regularly enough you’ll find out people’s deepest secrets even though you’ll probably never know their name.
关于遛狗公园有一个普遍的真理：如果你经常去公园，你会听到人们内心最深处的秘密，但你可能永远不知道他们的名字。
The morning I was about to drive my packed car and two dogs away from our life in Hobart, I took Mabel and Goldie for their last run on the part of the beach near our house that was designated to make the lives of our canine pals joyous: the most beautiful dog park in the world.
一天早上，在满载着家当和两只狗离开我们在霍巴特的生活之前，我带着两只狗在我们家附近的海滩上跑了最后一次步，这片海滩为狗狗专门设计成乐园，可以说是世界上最美的遛狗公园了。
I was in a weepy, wistful mood as I watched the dogs play in the surf, knowing that I was about to take them back to a tiny back yard in the inner west of Sydney. My neighbour and his little dog approached. It wasn’t long before we were both staring out at the sea, standing side by side, while our three dogs played happily.
看着狗狗们在海浪里嬉戏，想着将要把它们带回悉尼内西区的小院子里，我当时伤感低落。就在这时，我的邻居和他的小狗靠近了我们，不一会儿我们就并肩站立凝视着大海，三只狗则快乐地玩耍。
My neighbour and I had lived beside each other in a kind of hostility of passive aggression – he, a former military man, and me, someone who had been having a mid-30s existential breakdown lasting the entire three years I lived nextdoor to him. Oh, the unmown lawns!
我和邻居生活在消极敌对中。他是退伍军人，而我这样一个30多岁的人，住在他隔壁的整整三年里一直处于生存崩溃的状态：就比如他不修理的草坪！
As the sun rose he started to tell me about how some health issues had him thinking about his father’s death, which he went on to tell me about in minute detail. By the time he ended we were both in tears: at the principled life of twists and turns his father had lived and the great dignity he had exited with.
当太阳升起时，他开始告诉我一些健康问题如何让他想起父亲的去世，并一五一十地向我讲述。他父亲的生活充满坎坷却坚持原则，最终带着体面离开人世，讲完时我们俩都泪流满面。
After three years of cold war waged across a fence line, suddenly we were crying together? Over 10 years of frequenting dog parks I’ve heard people’s deepest secrets and I’ve shared mine. I’ve heard tales of marriages, affairs, troubled children, ailing parents, family feuds and work dramas. One morning I hugged someone five hours after they heard their middle-aged child had taken their own life.
隔着栅栏冷战了三年，我们竟突然一起哭了？十多年来，我经常光顾遛狗公园，听过人们内心最深处的秘密，也分享过自己的秘密。我听过关于婚姻、婚外情、问题孩子、父母卧床、家庭不和以及糟心工作等种种故事。有天早上，在某人得知自己的中年孩子自杀了之后，我拥抱了他五个小时。
Like parents watching their kids at the playground, we’re making sure our dogs aren’t acting up. It starts with normal chatter about the animals – their names, ages, eccentricities. It’s usually early in the morning, or after a long day of work, and over time those connections become more open. And safe. They’re safe because What’s Said at the Dog Park Stays at the Dog Park and 90% of us know each other only by our dog’s names.
就像父母在游乐场看着自己的孩子一样，我们都在确保狗狗不会调皮。一开始我们只聊宠物，比如它们的名字、年龄、怪癖等等。这种畅谈通常发生在清晨或者在一整天的工作之后，而且随着时间的推移变得更加开放而且很安全。之所以安全，是因为我们不会把在遛狗公园里说的话带出去，而且90%的人只通过狗狗的名字来认识彼此。
