Puptown

Puptown meets with Park District Architect

 
We are making progress with plans to re-configure entrance and exits at Puptown. Ryan Wallace (no relation to David Wallace) has been spear-heading this effort. He recently met with the Park District's architect to ensure that Puptown's needs are met.

We are all so thankful to Ryan. He has really shown tenacity when needed. With his permission, excerpts of his meeting notes are as follows:

The new fence to be installed will be a 10' section to divide the entrance in two sections. It is easiest and safest to enter and exit the dog park with the gate opening in the direction of travel (i.e. push not pull). The current outer entrance gate will remain as is. The other three gates will get new hardware in order to reverse the swing such that all gates open in the direction of travel (push). This is the most cost effective way to achieve a double gate with our current set up.

We recommend installing a visual screen on all facades that face the interior of the park and the divider of the entrance. This way dogs already in the park will not crowd the entrance to greet the new-comer (this can be a little overwhelming) and dogs entering and exiting will not see one another.

Recommend an outdoor bulletin boards (made of recycled material!):

http://www.kirbybuilt.com/products/products-by-category.cfm?categoryID=12&gclid=CI2Mhanvmp4CFRPxDAod5UZqlA
http://www.usmarkerboard.com/s/Outdoor-Enclosed-Bulletin-Boards/390
http://www.myvisualdisplay.com/messagecenters.html

We are so excited that the project is moving forward. Please take a moment to share your thoughts. 

Vox-PUP-uli: Strange or what?

A Puptown member wrote in to alert us to some odd goings-on. With permission, I am sharing her observation:

I was at Puptown this afternoon and saw something that may or may not be alarming: Around 1:30 P.M. a man on a bicycle came by and left a small red pouch clipped to the bottom of the gate -- it appeared to have a small amount of dog food in it. Within five minutes a second man walking three dogs came by and picked the pouch up. The second man appeared to feed his dogs some of the food then slowly walked away from the park area.

Strange, no? Does anyone know what this might be about? Please keep a look out. Could be nothing but just keep your eyes open.

Winter at Puptown

We have received word that the water fountain at Puptown has been shut off for the season. Now is a good time to review some tips for visiting Puptown in the Winter:

Bring Water

Pups can get dehydrated in the winter too. If there is no water available, your dog may resort to eating contaminated ice and snow.  Some generous souls make a habit of bringing gallons of water to share --Thanks! The more folks helping out, the better.

Shovel Snow

Soon there will be shovels placed near the entrance. It makes things much easier if we shovel as the snow falls instead of waiting for 4" to accumulate. We try to keep the entrance and a path to the center planting area shoveled. A few good people (Jay, Wes, Brendon et al) really chip in and it's appreciated but everyone should help.

De-icer

We use a dog and earth friendly de-icer and will make it available shortly. Feel free to spread it out as needed.

Winter at Puptown is fun - just bundle up, bring coffee and enjoy the pooches romping in the snow.