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Dogpark Folk's Doings
(0 articles)
Interesting stuff people who use the park are doing, participating in, etc.
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Doggie News
(5 articles)
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Dogs Electrocuted on City Streets
Got this from my Yahoo Dogpark News group-
This story from Chicago is a month old but my
google alert was just triggered today for some
unexplainable reason.
This story has a lot more information than the
one I read a month ago. I wanted to get these
2 stories into our group archives. Both stories
are still online
Similar incidents have also ocurred in Boston
and NYC and the one common item is that melting
snow and/or rain is usually the conductor that
makes a dangerous situation suddenly lethal.
WRZ
http://www.chicagot ribune.com/ news/local/ chi-070220electr ocuted-dog, 1,3397764. story?coll= chi-news- hed&ctrack= 1&cset=true
Walk in park becomes a dog owner's nightmare
By Tonya Maxwell and Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah
tmaxwell@ tribune.com and nahmed@ tribune.com
Tribune staff reporters
Published February 20, 2007
Laura Mercer sobbed Monday evening in a downtown
hotel room, remembering the sounds her beloved dog
made in the long minutes before his death.
The dog lay near a fountain at the southern end of
Grant Park Saturday evening, yelping and screaming,
sounding as though he were being brutally stabbed,
she recalled.
Instead, Smokey, a Labrador retriever mix, was
electrocuted in what Chicago Park District officials
are calling "a freak accident."
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[1876 views]
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Letter to Maincor relating to Southtown TIF
This is the letter that was provided to Maincor in support of their effort to get the Southtown TIF amendment approved. The amendment should have been approved 2/8.
MAINCOR:
The Dog Park Improvement Group (DIG) is
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[1311 views]
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KC Star article on Waldo/Brookside DP meeting
Dogs to have their day
Community meeting shows great desire for an additional dog park in city.
By ADAM TORRES
Special to the Star
If city parks officials questioned the need for another dog park in Waldo or Brookside, the answer is clear after a community meeting last week.
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[1411 views]
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Minutes from Brookside/Waldo DP meeting
Deb Hipp (dhipp@kc.rr.com) is working to get a dogpark in Brookside/Waldo. Next meeting is Thursday December 7th at the Waldo Library. Here are the minutes from the last meeting:
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Animal shelters reject breed-ban proposals
Article on Breed Bans
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[2148 views]
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Training Information
(3 articles)
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Recall
Hints on how to get your dog to come to you with great consistency- probably the most important command for a dog to know. By Dr. Wayne Hunthausen
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[1408 views]
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Teaching Fetch and Drop Objects on Command
Instructions on how to teach fetch and drop on command, by Dr. Wayne Hunthausen
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[1529 views]
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Leadership
Instructions on exercises to reinforce your role as your dog's pack leader, by Dr. Wayne Hunthausen
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[1317 views]
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Dogparks in the News
(5 articles)
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Grass problems at Iowa dogpark
I got this article from a Yahoo dogpark group I belong to. Regarding grass wear and tear on a park much larger than ours.
This park opened less than a year ago.
This just shows you that even a huge park like this
has to be managed and closed when the grass is too
wet to use. This is the first time this park has been
shut down to dogowners but it sounds like they are
going to begin doing this more often.
Wet grass is more likely to be torn out by the
roots and then it does not grow back.
I have been saying that you should also have a
phone line set up to answer calls and make sure
people are not driving back and forth to a park
that is closed.
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/DogPacList /
But you could accomplish the same thing by asking
the group moderator to change the group description
by an agreed upon time of the day to indicate
if the park will be open or closed along with
the date and day of the week.
You need an agreed upon process to get the word
out quickly or risk making people angry when
the park needs to be locked up and closed.
It would only take a couple of minutes to do that
each day and it would also be a way to bring traffic
and new members to your group website.
Beth told me that Terry Trueblood is very interested
in this park and I would guess that he would be
willing to make this change himself.
Bill Zardus
WRZ
Group Moderator
http://www.hawkcent ral.com/apps/ pbcs.dll/ article?AID= /20070313/ NEWS01/70313003/ 1079/HAWKS
http://www.press- citizen.com/ apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20070314/ NEWS01/703140332 /1079
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Dog park closes to protect turf
Officials want conditions to dry before reopening
By Mike McWilliams
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Wet and muddy conditions have temporarily closed
the Thornberry Off-Leash Dog Park, effective today,
said Terry Trueblood, Iowa City parks and recreation
director.
Trueblood said he did not know when the park would reopen.
"It simply needs to dry out, and rain is in the forecast
for the next couple of days, so I'm almost positive it
will be closed through the weekend and probably longer
than that," Trueblood said Tuesday. "It's good news,
bad news. It's getting a lot of heavy use, but the heavy
use is just really bad for it at a time when it's so
wet and soft."
The dog park, near the Peninsula Neighborhood in north
Iowa City, opened in June. Trueblood said maintenance
crews will spread some processed hardwood mulch throughout
the park and near the entries.
Trueblood said crews also would be adding grass seed.
Trueblood said he thought it would cost a "few hundred"
dollars to fix the turf. From a grass-turf standpoint,
Trueblood said the park opened a few months to a year
earlier than it should have.
"For all intensive purposes, it was ready to go. It would
have been nice to let the turf have a full year of growth
before opening it," Trueblood said. "But given the
circumstances, I think the right decision was made to go
ahead and open it."
Angie Noden of Coralville said she brings her dog, a
schnauzer named Doogie Howser, to the park every other
day. Noden said she hopes the park reopens soon.
"I understand that it's been pretty muddy out here
lately, but I think the socialization (dogs) get from
it as well as the exercise is pretty invaluable,"
Noden said. "It's dried up a ton over the past week."
Tina Robinson brings her dogs, Durango, a 1-year-old
rottweiler mix, and Pepsi, a 6-year-old collie mix,
to the dog park three to four times a week. The Iowa
City woman said the park closure does and does not
disappoint her.
"It's disappointing be-cause the weather has finally
broke and you can bring your dogs out here and be
outdoors with them," she said. "But on the other hand,
it's a lot of maintenance. Obviously, it's getting
really muddy out here, and the grass needs a chance
to really start up, and that's going to help throughout
the rest of the summer."
Reach Mike McWilliams at 339-7360 or
mmcwilliams@ press-citizen. com .
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[1403 views]
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Waldo/Brookside DP Star Article
DO THE MATH | Additional dog park proposed
Let the puppies loose
Advocate to put plan in front of parks planning commission for approval.
By MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
Susan Pfannmuller | Special to The Star
Deb Hipp and Toby near the proposed off-leash dog park within Sunnyside Park
in Waldo.
Here's some Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department math that Deb Hipp
says needs work:
There are 212 parks, 130 ball diamonds, 116.5 surface acres of lake, 109
tennis courts, 55 shelters, 20 soccer fields, 19 miles of exercise trails,
18 football fields, 11.6 miles of bike trails, 10 swimming pools, four
flying disk golf courses, and only one off-leash dog park.
With about 119,000 dogs living in Kansas City, dog owners have few places to
take the hounds for a good run off the leash, Hipp said.
But she has a solution, at least for dog owners in the Waldo and Brookside
areas.
Working with her neighbors since the fall, Hipp has proposed a four-acre
off-leash dog park that would be located in Sunnyside Park at 84th and
Summit streets.
"Its time has come," Hipp said recently. "It will meet the needs of an
underserved population."
Rallying support from more than 100 area residents and businesses, Hipp, a
freelance writer, has captured the attention of parks department planners
and a passel of politicians eager to ride a grass-roots bandwagon during a
city election season.
Marci Jones, south regional manager for the parks department, said the city
still must review and hold public hearings on a formal proposal for the
project. But Jones said she's impressed with the enthusiasm and work that
Hipp's group - Well-Organized Off-Leash Friends, or W.O.O.F. - has put into
the project.
"I've got to applaud them," Jones said. "They've really done their
homework."
But while early excitement for the project has been high, it hasn't met with
universal support.
One neighborhood leader is concerned about smells, parking and whether the
project may be too big for Sunnyside Park, which covers 22 acres.
Self-professed dog lover Tammy Gay, president of the Waldo Homes
Association, said she doesn't question the motives of Hipp and her
supporters. She just wonders if the project is appropriate where it
currently is proposed.
"I'm not against dogs or a dog park," Gay said recently. "I'm against a dog
park going into a small neighborhood park."
The genesis of the new proposal came last year when Hipp moved from a
neighborhood near the University of Kansas Hospital to Waldo, far from
Kansas City's existing off-leash facility at Penn Valley Park.
But while she'd continue to duck over to Penn Valley with her dogs, Hipp
noticed loads of other critters in her new neighborhood.
"I saw a need for the Waldo and Brookside areas," Hipp said. "There are so
many dogs you can't walk down the street without seeing dogs sticking their
heads out of the windows of cars."
Even opponents of the plan agree that the main beneficiaries of a dog park
are the owners. Giving people a place to safely run their animals off leash
gives pet owners the opportunity to visit and socialize.
Jim Glover, who represents the 4th District At Large, has worked with Hipp
and supports the idea of a second dog park.
"It becomes a good community interaction," Glover said. "It's a good way for
citizens to use the parks, to get together, talk together and form those
community relationships."
After three well-attended community meetings, Hipp set up a web site to keep
her supporters informed - www.waldo-brooksidedogpark.com - and recently
posted architectural designs for the parks.
Prepared by project designer Jeremy Schlicher, the L-shaped design includes
two large dog areas and a small dog area, each surrounded by chain link
fencing. The designs also include butterfly canopies for owners to wait
under and a central rain garden composed of low-maintenance native
plants.One question that is certain to come up when the park department
reviews the plan is the scale of the project. While proponents like to call
it a small part of a large park, Gay believes it would take too much of a
22-acre neighborhood park.
Schlicher said the key will be making the dog park an intrinsic part of the
larger facility.
"We have to be respectful of the other spaces," Schlicher said. "When I was
looking at it I was trying to maximize the space the dogs could run in, but
I wanted it to engage the other spaces, rather than making it a segmented
part of the park."
This spring, Hipp hopes to take her plans to a parks department development
committee, consisting of senior parks managers and staff. That's where
dreams must become practical reality.
Jones said the city will want to look carefully at the proposal and work
through land use and parking issues. The city likely will hold public
meetings to gauge neighborhood support, resolve complaints and, perhaps,
consider whether another site, such as Swope Park, is better suited.
She likes, however, that Hipp's group is planning fundraising so the city
wouldn't pay all the costs of a new dog park.
Hipp estimated that the basic dog park can open for about $50,000, with
amenities such as shelters coming later. She plans to apply for funding
through the Public Improvements Advisory Committee, but that money would not
be available until 2008.
Gay said she hoped the city would open the park only when all funding was in
place. She also wants to see a long-term maintenance plan that doesn't lean
too heavily on volunteer help.
"I know these people would use the park appropriately, but they can't
control everything," Gay said.
But Hipp said she appreciates even critical comments about the proposal.
"We're really trying to be proactive rather than reactive," Hipp said.
"We're trying to anticipate problems."
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[1620 views]
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Letter to the Star 2/1 on unaltered dogs at DP's
Not supporting or opposing this viewpoint, just putting it out here as it is dogpark related.
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[1336 views]
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Nice Response to Cranky Letter to the Star- 12/4
A great response to the other letter to the Star. I am pretty sure Mr. Bennett is in the group- I believe he is the Sam with the large black shepherd.
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[1535 views]
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Cranky Letter to the Star on PVP DP 11/30
The following was sent to the KC Star. Including since it was about the park, and there was a cool reply that wouldn't have made sense without it.
And just in the interest of full disclosure, I am not a fan of parking by the fence, unless there is a real mobility problem involved. I think it is kind of lazy and irresponsible. However, I am not going to rant and rave at anybody about it- once we have a parking lot, I WILL rant and rave at anybody about it... :)
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[1546 views]
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Themes About DIG  The Dogpark Improvement Group (DIG) is a volunteer, non-profit organization composed of individuals coming together to raise funds to improve the Penn Valley Dogpark in Kansas City, MO. The group was started by MaryBeth Norsworthy in June of 2006 DIG planted eight maple trees in the park in late Fall of 2006, and has been instrumental in working with city government to improve the dogpark. A DIG PIAC request was approved in 2007 to provide $155,000 for park expansion and a parking lot. DIG uses an e-mail list to communicate with members. The only requirement for DIG membership is an in-person / e-mailed request to be a member, along with agreeing to work constructively in the group and respect the opinions of others. Please e-mail digannouncements@gmail.com to join! As of May 2009, the group has 191 members. Dog Quotes Sir, this is a unique dog. He does not live by tooth or fang. He respects the right of cats to be cats although he doesn't admire them. He turns his steps rather than disturb an earnest caterpillar. His greatest fear is that someone will point to a rabbit
John Steinbeck
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