This website only shows a fairly small percentage of the information we send out to our email list. If you want to:
1. Get more info on events, great charitable causes, and general doggie interest items.
2. Be informed of times when the dog park may be blocked off or closed, or of safety or other concerns.
3. Support the dog park by giving DIG the backing to get things done. With this help, DIG has pushed through the parking lot and expansion, funded the small dog area, planted trees, and done many other things to improve everyone's dog park experience. We need a robust email list to get volunteers, improve general awareness of user responsibilities, attract people to our fundraisers, and, when necessary, provide political backing when/if our dog park is ever threatened by policy changes or a dog park hostile park board.

If you are willing to work with others constructively and respect their opinions, please email digannouncements@gmail.com to sign up. Thanks- we need your help to continue to get things done!!!!

Hey all,
Quality article in USA Today linked here regarding dog park safety. Few items from the article below that are worth emphasizing, with some notes:

To lessen the chance of conflict, be sure your dog is well socialized around other dogs and people. Early socialization of puppies is essential.
If your dog is under-socialized, consult a professional trainer or your veterinarian before considering a visit to a dog park.
- it is far from uncommon, unfortunately, to see clearly fearful dogs, specifically small ones, at the dp. This is frankly a recipe for disaster- these dogs are likely poorly socialized (or simply smart, realizing how vulnerable they are, see below), and are fights and injuries waiting to happen. The natural reaction from normal dogs to an insecure, fearful dog is to go after it- their instincts are to drive mentally weak dogs away, if not eliminate them. Picking up the dog does not address the issue. These 'under-socialized' dogs should have their fear worked out away from the dog park before visiting. As owners have often either created or reinforce this fear in the way they interact with the dog, the help of a trainer or behaviorist is often needed. Btw, this is a classic example of where the 'aggressive' dog is not really the issue- it is just doing what the doggie code of behavior tells it to do.

Be sure your dog is well trained in basic commands like sit, stay, come(recall), and leave it. If an altercation occurs, your dog will be more likely to respond to you and leave the situation.
-if you don't have basic control over your dog (solid recall response is best, but at the very least the ability to sit/stay when commanded with 100% reliability), you are completely at the mercy of your dog's ability (and willingness) to 'play nice'. Untrained or poorly trained dogs are essentially loose cannons- they basically see you as a non-entity in terms of listening to what you want them to do. Fortunately, dogs are social creatures and inherently pre-disposed to get along, but they are more likely to behave if they are aware that a higher power (you) is watching, especially if you have made it clear what kind of negative behaviors will not be tolerated.

Always keep a close eye on your dog to ensure he's playing nicely, and that other dogs are playing nicely with him. While you're both there to have fun, your dog relies on you to keep him safe.
- this is the essential corallary to the training item above. If you aren't paying attention, your dog will know it, and is much more likely to act up- sometimes only to get your attention. Big issue these days- see way, way too many people that not only pay no attention to their dog pooping 20 feet away because they are busy chatting with somebody, but are half a park away as their dog continually provokes issues by bullying, being overly dominant, etc., and show up to a resulting fight after others have broken it up for them. And it's not just to watch that your dog behaves- if you expect them to not 'take care of themselves' by responding aggressively to a dog that is pushing them around, you have to be there to keep them from being bullied, harassed, etc.

If you notice play getting out of hand, or are uncomfortable with the behavior you see, remove your dog before a fight can begin. This is where a strong leave it and recall are important.
- very rare for a fight to occur instantly, without signs. Both dogs will indicate, via body language (dominance contest- super erect posture, stiff, high tight wagging tail, fear- showing teeth, hackles up), growling, etc. that things are about to go south. It is fairly easy to prevent a fight at these stages- just step in (literally) and make your presence felt, firmly. You can often break it up from a distance with a strong word, especially if your dog knows it is supposed to 'just walk away' when another dog is annoying it or making it uncomfortable.
Note that extreme excitement, often characterized by constant barking, is 'getting out of hand'. Redirect your dog- if it won't listen to you, leave the park and do some training before coming back.

Visit the dog park without your dog to be sure there are appropriate areas for both small and larger dogs to safely interact.
-just because 99% of the time it works out OK does not mean it is a good idea to have small dogs interacting with much, much larger dogs. Any dog under 10lbs is in real danger being in the large dog area- they are simply very vulnerable, both to suffering fatal damage from a single bite or from getting run over or stepped on by a larger dog. The only two known fatalities in our DP as a result of wounds inflicted were very small dogs. Stouter, heavier dogs can absorb some damage and still give you time to intervene and save them- toy poodles, etc. simply don't have the heft to take the damage. And any dog that can be picked up and shaken will likely do little better than a squirrel or cat that gets handled similarly. It appears that in some cases, very small dogs get confused with small prey animals by some dogs. A prey reaction in this case is tragic for all parties involved. Please, use the small dog area, for you and your dog's sake!
Don't bring food or treats to the dog park.
- bringing food is an extremely bad idea, and against park rules. Amazed at folks who come in occassionally and expect to be able to eat on a bench and not be bothered. It's a DOG PARK. :)

The rest of the article is great, too, including the details on how to break up a fight (water, citronella spray, 'wheelbarrrow' separation method).

Enjoy the park safely everyone!

Hello all,
M'Shoogy's will be out Saturday, August 7. Info on them below- here http://www.pawprintsthemagazine.com/?p=10800 is also a great article about them. Never knew what their name meant, or that we basically had a 'dogtown' type refuge right in our own backyard! Come out Sat. 10AM-4PM to check them out and give them some support!

M'Shoogy's is a no-kill animal sanctuary that has been dedicated to saving the lives of abandoned, injured, and abused animals for many years. The 22 acre refuge is located about 60 miles north of Kansas City in Savannah, Missouri and is currently home to several hundred dogs, cats, and other animals.

Please use this email for contact info:

doghound@att.net

--------------------------
Also, we got another org, Midwest PAW's, to sign up for September 12th. See their info below:

We are a non-profit 501C rescue group formed two years ago for the purpose of saving german shorthair pointers and weimaraners. You may have seen us on television in February 2009 where we participated in a rescue of over 75 german shorthair pointers along with probably 50 spaniels. To date we have rescued over 200 dogs. We work completely through foster families and participating in your rescue weekend will help us to get the word out about our program.

Contact information is:
Joann Miller
816-516-1205
jmiller1755@comcast.net


-----------------------
One way to help all the Halfway Home dogs you see emails about is by supporting HH's official foster partner, TAILS. See the email plea I received below-

Hi friends!
A new adoption site for TAILS Rescue (HHPA dogs) is going to be the Petsmart off Barry Road in Kansas City. We will start on Sunday, August 1 from 12 to 4.
We will still do adoptions at the Belton location on Saturdays from 11 to 3 pm.
We also anticipate being at the Blue Springs Petco on Saturdays in the near future.
Can you please send a request by email to your contacts seeking volunteers to help with the mobile events listed above? (Please cross-post and forward).
If you have seen the urgent lists go out regarding the Half Way Home Pet Adoptions' need to move dogs, this would be a great way to help as we run their foster program and pull dogs from the shelter, placing with foster homes!
We are looking for people who can help transport to and from events, people who can work the events, etc. We can't expand and get the Kansas City shelter dogs more exposure at multiple locations by ourselves, so we are really going to need some teamwork. A few dedicated people would really help.
The more dogs we move, the faster we can pull more. Your help is appreciated, please forward to your contacts!
Halfway Home Pet Adoptions: www.petshalfwayhome.com
TAILS Rescue:
www.tailsrescuekc.org
Thank you,
Anna M. M. Leeson
President
TAILS Rescue
Anna@tailsrescuekc.org

-----------------------------------
Got word on a former Halfway Home 'urgent' who is in danger of going back to death row due to losing his owner. See forward below.

Thanks everybody, enjoy the dog park!

From: Tammy Saum <saumfrock@live.com>

Subject: Artie, a former KCMO dog, needs our help or will end up back at shelter

Hi everyone. I just received an email last night about a very very sweet guy named Artie. Artie was formerly a KCMO dog on the urgent list and was adopted out by an older man who LOVED Artie...After only a short few months in his new home, the wonderful man who adopted Artie died of a heart attack and they family had to return Artie to shelter...

While the family was taking him back to surrender him, Nicole (another rescue gal) happened to meet Artie

Hello all!
We have lined up a few more rescue weekend orgs. M'Shoogy's will be out Saturday, August 7 and Saturday, September 11. Happy Dog Rescue (a reschedule) will be out 9/11. Here's info on these groups- we still have space available, too, if you are a rescue/welfare org or know of one that may be interested. Only six dates total left!

M'Shoogy's is a no-kill animal sanctuary that has been dedicated to saving the lives of abandoned, injured, and abused animals for many years. The 22 acre refuge is located about 60 miles north of Kansas City in Savannah, Missouri and is currently home to several hundred dogs, cats, and other animals.

Please use this email for contact info:

doghound@att.net
- - - - - - - - - - - -
We are Happy Dogs Rescue, an all-breed dog rescue based in the KC metro area. We take in stray and other homeless dogs (some from the various city "pound" shelters), rehabilitate them as needed, and place them in loving permanent homes within our area. We are a smaller group, all volunteers, and we are a 501(c)3, licensed in the state of Missouri. We tend to have larger breeds, both pure and mixed.
Our websites:
Main website: http://www.happydogsrescue.com
Petfinder pages: http://www.petfinder.org/shelters/MO269.html
Email: adopt@happydogsrescue.com (And can also be emailed via either website.)
-----------------------------
Kate Quigley and her org. Chain of Hope, do an outstanding job of helping out dogs in bad situations that would otherwise have no one looking out for them (great blog here- read about Ace, pretty cool story). They also help support quality, but financially strapped dog owners to keep their dogs instead of being forced to give them up, often to high kill shelters that they will never get out of, as well as spreading the word about responsible dog ownership to folks who have never been exposed to even the basics. Chain of Hope is up for $5000 grant from Pepsi, and there are only a few days left to vote. You have to sign in, and can only vote once a day, but please consider going to http://www.refresheverything.com/categories/neighborhoods, clicking on 'near you' 'Vote for' drop down, and vote for the 'Pay for Spay/Neuter surgeries to....' item.
-----------------------------
One more plea for more help watering the grass. It is easy- only a few minutes spent helping in the course of your regular dog park visit. It is a bit frustrating we have only been able to get 3 or 4 people to do even this, especially considering that Greenies gave us this opportunity to solve the mudpit issue on the hill, something that undoubtedly was annoying to many users. We really need a few more folks willing to give a bit back to the dog park- please consider becoming a volunteer. If you enjoy having the parking lot, the expansion, new trees, a small dog area, etc., realize that NONE of that would have happened without DIG and several members who put in the time (often, a LOT of it) to make them happen. Please consider giving a few hours yourself, even if only once. Thank you!!! (reply to digannouncements@gmail.com)
----------------------------
MOGS is having a 'car wash+' event, see below-

Hello all,
If you didn't make it out, the Greenies 'Room to Run' event was a big success, with a large amount of work getting done before mother nature called a stop to the work with a storm around Noon. As a result of Greenies/Nutro's generosity, we have a new doggie water station INSIDE the fence, have taken some significant steps to address our erosion issues, spread rock and mulch in spots it was badly needed, planted grass seed, and did some much needed tree trimming. There were also fun and prizes, including frosty paws and a winner of a year's worth of Nutro dog food!

Not only did Greenies pay for everything (Cripple Creek Rock co. did donate the water station- big thanks to Cripple Creek, too- water stations are NOT cheap!), they provided the majority of the volunteers, most of them likely folks who never use our dogpark but still gave up their Saturday. The DIG volunteer team also provided around 10 volunteers, many of whom really busted tail (special kudos to Kim S., Gina, Suzanne and Kay!). And KCMO Parks also did their part, not only getting the water station mount in on time, but also building an erosion berm and sending excellent Parks employee Kevin out to help us.

But we aren't quite done- the next challenge will be to keep the grass seed (and later baby grass) watered during the heat. If you can help out, please reply to the list. This will not be an easy job, with lots of hose to haul to the park, around the park, and back for each watering. The plan is for a DIG board member (likely me :) water each day after 5PM if it doesn't rain that day. Some help lugging hoses around would be greatly appreciated, starting tomorrow (6/22).

If you want to throw some 'thanks', email Cindy from Greenies (and Cindy from Cripple Creek!) cc:ed above. It was a big privilege to get picked for one of these events- we were one of 30 dogparks nationwide that were lucky enough to be chosen. Very nice for a great local company to think of us!

So go buy some Greenies- and see everybody at the park!

Hey all,
Missouri German Shephard Rescue (MOGS) will be out this weekend, weather permitting, both this Sat. and this Sun. (6/12-13). Any cancellations will be announced 24 hours in advance, both here and on diginthepark.com. Additionally, the Barkery has provided MOGS with a number of free items that they will offer to folks willing to help them out, stop by their table to get details!

MOGS details below-
MOGS Rescue is a relatively new dog rescue organization dedicated to rescuing German Shepherd Dogs and German Shepherd Mixes. We help others dogs as well, whenever possible. We do not have an actual physical shelter, instead relying on foster homes, volunteers and donations to help our furry friends in need.

For a list of dogs currently in our program, please visit our website at:
http://mogsrescue.rescuegroups.org .
The site is also set up to take adoption, foster, and volunteer applications.
Contact MOGS at MOGSEvents@kc.rr.com

Take a minute this weekend to stop by and say hello to MOGS!
--------------------------------------
Plans for our Greenies/Nutro 'Room to Run' dog park 'renovation' event next Sat. 6/19 are coming together nicely! The water station should be in before then (we are getting a doggie water fountain IN the fenced area, if you haven't heard), donated by Cripple Creek Rock Co.. Details of that day will include ice cream (including frosty paws for the dogs) and other fun stuff (like a drawing for a years worth of Nutro dog food from among the volunteers), along with constructive work that will really help the park. Big kudos to Cindy Kitchen and co. at Greenies for going all out for what should be a great day! We really need plenty of DIG volunteers to get the work done and show our appreciation, reply to the list if you can help.

Thanks all, see you at the park!

Thanks to many folks who made this happen- first our sponsors, Boulevard, AMC, Holiday Inn Country Club Plaza, Pizza 51, City Pets, Doggie Style Boutique, Indigo Wild, and Greenies. Events like this don't happen, let alone make real money, without local companies being willing to help. Especially big thanks to Boulevard for providing an outstanding venue (the new tasting room is not the old tasting room!), AMC for their year movie pass donation, and Holiday Inn Country Club Plaza (a very dog friendly place!) for donating a weekend stay. And thanks to City Pets, Doggie Style Boutique, Indigo Wild and Greenies for providing great raffle and silent auction items, and Pizza 51 for a great deal on food.

And secondly big thanks to all who came out- these events also don't work if no one comes! Last but certainly not least, thanks to the DIG board members who organized and ran the event, specifically Julie Weeks for securing the venue (and more) and playing bartender. Also key to making it happen were Ali Kelley and Gina Powell.

All of these contributions mean DIG has a refreshed bank account ready to be applied where and when needed to make for a better dogpark. Plus, per our usual habit of donating 10% from our fundraisers to a dog welfare organization, $100 will be going to Halfway Home's Medical Fund.

And best of all, it was a great time! Don't miss the next one!

See everybody at the park!

P.S.- Rescue Weekend next weekend, more info coming shortly.

P.P.S.- Greenies event 6/19, MUCH more info coming! Need volunteers!

See everybody who purchased at the event tonight- again, your name and address are your ticket, we will have a list at the door.

Thanks for supporting DIG!

Hey all, quick note. As you should be aware, the Penn Valley dog park was privileged to be picked by our friends at Greenies/Nutro to be a site for their annual dog park improvement 'Room to Run' events, where they pick dog parks in select cities and commit money and company volunteers to make those parks better. We are working on the details with the Greenies /nutro folks of what we plan to do on our 6/19 event date (and we need DIG volunteers! please reply to digannouncements@gmail.com if you can help that day!), but one big piece just fell into place due to the generosity of Cripple Creek Rock Company - they will buy a dog water station to be placed INSIDE the park, near the north dog park entrance! Users will now always have a clean water source available for their dogs without having to leave the dog park (or haul water). And thanks are also due to our Parks Dept. friends (specifically David Burke and Heidi Downer) for arranging to have their staff install the fountain and for their general help in making this event work.

More info will be forthcoming- huge thanks to Cripple Creek and Greenies/Nutro!

Hello all,
We have a little over 20 tickets left to our 'Boulevard DIGs Dogparks' fundraiser. In addition to great Boulevard beer straight from their brewing vats, we will have tasty food (and plenty- dinner will be covered), a raffle that will include a $50 City Pets gift certificate, a great silent auction, and, of course, lots of fun hanging out with your dogpark friends! 10% of all event proceeds will benefit Halfway Home's Medical Fund, but the rest will go back into our beloved dogpark. DIG funds have been used in the past to plant trees, sponsor events (such as paying for the movies at 'Take Your Dog to a Movie' night), and do big things like pay to construct the new small dog area (which would not have happened if DIG hadn't had several thousand bucks ready to jump on the opportunity).

Note that no tickets will be issued, your name and address will be checked at the door to confirm your ticket purchases. And absolutely NO tickets will be sold at the door, they MUST be bought in advance.

Details-
dig FUNdraiser: "Boulevard DIGs Dogparks
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Boulevard Brewing Co. 2501 Southwest Boulevard KCMO 64108
Time:6-8 pm
Beer (of course!), food, raffle prizes, silent auction and FUN!
$20 per person: RSVP and purchase tickets at www.diginthepark.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
Another outstanding cause, Halfway Home, are having a fundraiser at Kelly's Westport Inn: 5/29- 6-9pm @ 500 Westport Rd KCMO 64111 - $7 cover charge goes to Medical Fund (linked above). Please consider coming out to throw $7 (or more) their way, as if 36 people attend, they have a matching contribution commitment of $500!

Also, it is a brutally hard time right now for furry kids stuck at Halfway Home