Going to the dogs

The American Society of Landscape Architects web site has posted two stories about dog parks worth a look.

One, in ASLA's The Dirt blog, makes mention of the City of Santa Monica, California's conversion of a former airport runway into 8.5 acres of dog-friendly parkland.

The other is about two landscape architects, Jon Mueller and Keith Dixon, who engaged fourth- and fifth-graders to help design a dog park for the city of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. As Mueller told ASLA, in response to the question, "Why a dog park?" ... “We felt that kids have a natural affinity for dogs and that a park project would be a great means by which we could introduce kids to landscape architecture ... The biggest challenge was not being able to give enough to the kids ... They were really focused and were like little sponges. They just absorbed everything we laid out for them and wanted more. They really liked the connection with nature.” (in LandOnline, May 22, 2007)

We can relate to the benefits of dog parks, but know -- from personal experience here in Burlington, Vermont -- that they can also stir up just a bit of controversy. Amy Souza covered both sides of the story for us in her Planning Commissioners Journal article, "Planning for Dogs: Exercise vs. Restraint."

Photo below from Souza's article: Seattle's Golden Gardens off-leash area is one of eleven such areas designated by the City Council. A dog owners group, Citizens for Off-Leash Areas (COLA), shares responsibility with the city's park department for maintaining and monitoring these sites. photo provided by Jerry Malmo.