What Makes a Great Dog Park?

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

25 May 2009 06:56 PM

The dog park here in town recently got remodeled... and it's great. Not that it wasn't nice before -- a large, securely fenced area with a spigot for the dogs to have fresh water while they played. But it's even better now.

Improvement #1: an "airlock" style gate. Before the remodel, the park just had a gate for people and dogs to go in and out. Dogs who were already inside could crowd around the gate, and possibly escape when the gate was open. Now the gate opens into a small fenced area so you can secure the outside gate before opening the inside gate. It makes it MUCH easier to enter and exit.

Improvement #2: a second area for smaller dogs. The old large park has been divided and fenced so that there's a small fenced area for small dogs and a large fenced area for big dogs. Each separate area has its own gate and water system. That way, if the big kids are playing too roughly, the smaller dogs have a safe place to explore and play. I've also seen owners use it for dogs who don't get along with other dogs -- the antisocial dog got to wander in the smaller park without being a problem for the other parkgoers.

Improvement #3: there's always been water and plenty of bowls, but the last time we were at the park, there were kiddie pools, too! It was great fun to watch the dogs splashing around to cool off. There's also a hose (for refilling the pools) -- and my dog Moose loves to play with the hose. He had a grand old time trying to bite the hose water.

My only complaint (and it isn't much of a complaint) is that the park has reduced the number of garbage cans for pet waste. There used to be a can at each end of the off-leash area; now there's only one. So it's slightly less convenient to dispose of waste now. But the park still provides plenty of baggies for picking up after your pups.

I love the remodeled dog park, and my dogs do, too. Do you take your pups to the park? What's your dog park like?

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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Samual (11722) 26 May 2009 03:26 AM

We don't have dog parks in the UK, you just go to a normal park.

Aimee Amodio (11995) 26 May 2009 11:01 AM

I should clarify -- this is a normal (public) park with a special fenced-in area where dogs are allowed off-leash. Through the rest of the park, the dogs have to be on leashes.