For all its yappy hours, posh boutiques and meetup.com breed groups, in many communities dog parks can be few and far between in the doggy-crazed DC metropolitan area.
The city of Alexandria has an estimated population of 143,000 and boasts an eye-popping 17 official dog exercise areas. Ever expanding Prince William and Loudoun Counties have a combined population of 655,000 without one single dog park.
Montgomery County finds itself somewhere in between. The three established dog parks are spacious and well run by most accounts, but with 25,000 registered dogs, the 8,333 to 1 ratio could use some improvement.
A group of determined citizens aims to raise that number to 4 parks by working with the county on a new off-leash dog park in Rockville's Randolph Hills Local Park. The group’s president, Damon Manetta, makes a strong case in a letter posted on the newly established Randolph Dog Club website:
Dog parks have many advantages: they promote responsible dog ownership, reduce criminal activity in adjoining areas, properly socialize dogs and provide an exercise outlet which keeps dogs physically and emotionally healthy. Additionally, our community is ideal for a new dog park. We have underutilized existing park land while being centrally located in the down-county area with a number of dedicated dog owners.
The proposed park would easily service nearby communities such as Kensington, Garret Park, Aspen Hill and North Bethesda, whose dog owners must travel miles from their home way to the nearest park currently.
Paw bumps…
… to active community involvement and responsible pet ownership!
… to Montgomery County who has recognized a need for additional off leash areas and is entertaining the group’s proposal.
For more info:
Randolph Dog Club website
Randolph Dog Club Yahoo! Group for the latest and greatest
Randolph Hills Local Park - proposed site of the new dog area
Comments
Loudoun County DOES have a dog park--a HUGE private dog park called The Leesburg Canine Country Club (www.LeesburgCanineCountryClub.com). They are having a festival on October 10 (www.CanineCountryJamboree.com).
Yes, I was referring to parks established by the city or county, but that's a nice alternative Michelle.
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