There are quite a few dog parks where I live. Some have trails, some are more open, some only have two sides to choose from (large and small dogs), and others have more.
All of these things can be some reasons that a person chooses a specific dog park.
I have chosen the one I go to for a few reasons:
- I like the open part versus brush that the dogs can run in. Only because I am afraid I will not be able to get Grayson out of it.
- The people I have gotten to know.
- The dogs that Kaiah and Grayson have gotten to be friends with and comfortable around.
Don’t get me wrong, no dog park is perfect. Each one has something or someone that drives all of us crazy. Poop Nazis (yelling out each time a dog is pooping, even if you are on your way to pick it up), drama (people talking about other dogs while not seeing the faults in their own), and people who allow their dogs to continuously “hump” other dogs while they are on the phone. Those are the “people” issues.
The dog park I go to has issues in our wet months. There is standing water that the dogs run through. This probably does not seem like a problem, except standing water is a way for dogs to get Lepto virus! There is a vaccine I chose to get this year for my two because of the dog park conditions. Even in the wet months, our dog park has an issue around the watering area. There is standing water there. From what I understand, this has been brought to our city’s attention, but without relief, unless it is by the visitors of the dog park.
It seems that the only people to keep up our dog park are those of us who go there. We love our animals, and want nothing more than for them to have fun, but it takes more than just the people going there. The city owns the park, and it would be nice for workers to come out and take responsibility. It would not take much to fix some of these things, just a little time and materials.
Why do I still go to this particular dog park you may ask? Well, it goes back to the three reasons at the top. Most important, it is where my dogs love to go, and it is all about them! What is your dog park like?
Have the two adjacent neighbors stopped harassing the dog owners with police sirens and by swearing at them? That was always a treat while visiting there too.
When I was in San Francisco last month doing some book promotion, I could not help but notice how many dogs there were. A recent listing in USA Today noted that San Francisco was the fourth top city in the country for off-leash dog parks, a pretty good indication of dogs that need to run! The top city on the list, Portland, Oregon boasts 32 dog parks which makes it the city with the highest per capita number of off-leash dog parks among the nation's 100 largest cities. Norfolk, Virginia, is second, followed by Las Vegas and then San Francisco. All I can say is that Portland must be literally overflowing with dogs because San Francisco at #4 seems to be! It turns out that off-leash dog parks are the fasted growing segment of city parks, according to study by the Trust for Public Land. All of which makes sense when you realize that there are now more households with dogs (43 million) than with kids (38 million.) In many ways, dog parks have become social hubs for people as well as pets. Future husbands and wives meet there; job leads are exchanged; business ideas get circulated and friendships are forged. In other words, true community in the actual rather than virtual sense of the word! I personally don't know what I would do without my off leash park. Three dogs are impossible to walk, especially when they outweigh me, and the opportunity to roam, sniff and run each day is incredibly important to my pack.
For Dunedin you would need to call Brian Bechtle, Parks Maintenance Supervisor at (727)298-3280 and leave a message. Or you could call the Dunedin City Clerk's Office at (727)298-3034, and they will send a message to the correct department.