Recently I ran across a few old photographs. I could not name many of the people in the pictures, but I could name all the dogs.
I think most of us who frequent dog parks experience this: while there, we stay mostly focused on our dogs and their canine playmates. If we see a familiar person later at the grocery store, we are likely to address her as Sparky’s mom, or some such thing, rather than by her own name.
This phenomenon points to an often overlooked benefit of dog parks. In these special places, we not only grow closer with our own dogs (as if they pay any attention to us at all during the visit), we bond with all the other dogs as well. I have often seen people come into a park with no dogs of their own – just because they love dogs and crave the canine contact. There is a special connection most of us have to these fine four-footers, and just observing the play and rumble-tumble can change a person’s day.
Begun in 1979, the first dog park in the United States was Ohlone Dog Park in Berkeley. I had the privilege of being its co-founder. It had two entrances – both single-gated. There was one picnic table near the main gate. A single faucet drizzled water into a plastic whipped topping container. There were a couple of boulders at one end. That was it. The rest was grassy open space that turned to thick muck in the winter.
The area was called the “Experimental Dog Park” for what seemed like forever. There was a constant unspoken anticipation that the park might be closed at any moment, until it was officially dedicated to a woman on the Berkeley City Council, Martha Scott Benedict. The name of the park was not officially changed to honor her, but a large etched wooden sign bears her name. Eventually the name was changed to reflect its location on a bit of Berkeley open space called Ohlone Parkway
Now Ohlone Dog Park has trees, a bulletin board, picnic benches, water fountains, double-gated entrances, a cement walkway from one end to the other that allows disabled access, and a blue fire hydrant dedicated to a popular park advocate, the late Doris Richards.
The trend that Ohlone launched is alive and well. California now has 237 dog parks… no, wait, 238… uh, no, 239… The number is constantly growing. These days, dog parks can be found in the farthest corners of the state.
The greater Bay Area contributes over fenced 65 parks to the mix – and there are at least that many open spaces, urban parks, and beaches in our environs where dogs can stretch out, dig in, chase, sniff, and get filthy dirty. (I think they smile bigger when they are filthy dirty.)
If you haven’t visited a dog park recently, it’s way past time to do so. You can learn their locations in my book – Dog Parking It! – which lists approximately 200 fenced California dog parks. It describes amenities and concerns, names veterinarians in close proximity to each park, and provides a rating approved by my rescue Border Terrier mix, Twyla, who accompanied me to over 235 fenced dog parks during the research phase.
If I had listed all the amenities at Ohlone Dog Park in 1979, it would be a sparse list, at best. Dog parks have come an incredibly long way. The special features that can be found today at various locales include play structures for dogs, high quality metal or resin chairs for people, shade structures, fancy walkways, large metal art pieces, drinking fountains for people as well as dogs, wading pools, and much more. The high point of my dog parking trips was a shade structure at one park where you could push a button to release a cooling mist. What bliss for people and pooches on a hot day.
The future of dog parks looks quite promising. As my book was rolling off the press, I was already being asked if this or that new park was included. The thought of beginning a second edition so soon makes me a bit dizzy. But someday I will once again be on the road with Twyla, seeking out the best of the new crop of California dog parks.
Happy parking!
Gail S. Green is the author of Dog Parking It! available at www.amazon.com. She lives in Richmond with her human partner of 23 years, a gregarious budgie named Hatch, and Twyla, her canine companion and dog park research assistant. Part of the proceeds from Dog Parking It! are donated to the Valley Oak SPCA in Visalia, California – the folks that originally rescued Twyla.
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