Tale of Two Dog Parks

I don’t know if St. Thomas dog people and City Hall are still battling about weeds in the dog park. Please God, I hope not! Of all the issues that may cause problems between the powers that be and dogs running loose, tall weeds should not even register on the fight-o-meter. A look at two dog parks and two councils might show how things could work.

No one at the St. Thomas dog park has suggested clear cutting the woods or levelling the ravine. All that was asked was to keep weeds and grasses to a manageable height. That’s so dogs, and their poop, cannot get lost in them. Also, no one wants a dog or child to get a stick in their eye while running through an area where they can’t see where they’re going. No one wants ticks on their dogs, their children or themselves. And in case you’re wondering, park users aren’t permitted to just cut the weeds themselves. Only City employees can do so.

St. Thomas Mayor Heather Jackson has been a good friend of the Lions Club Dog Park since the beginning. So too have been Council members and Parks & Rec staff. That’s why it seemed so odd that such a battle over its “landscaping” ever developed.

Compare Two Dog Parks

Two weeks before the weed cutting battle was raging at St. Thomas City Hall, the King’s County Record in Sussex NB published this article entitled “Thirsty pooches should be pleased.” The town council approved the expenditure to install a water fountain for the dogs, replace the snow fencing with chainlink and create a small dog area in the town’s dog park. I don’t know what kind of negotiations preceded this decision, but it was nice to read Mayor Marc Thorne saying “There are a lot of dogs in town, and residential properties don’t have the amount of space they need to get a healthy workout.”

The Sussex Bark Park terrain is totally different from St. Thomas’ park. It is on a hill and could be improved further by planting a few shade trees. But, as you can see from the picture, the dogs in it can run. There ain’t no waist-high weeds.

First posted on this date on my St. Thomas Dog Blog.