Spokane7
50°
December 8, 2010 in City
Board set to OK contract for High Bridge dog park
Cooper, a golden retriever owned by Kelly Nelson, of Coeur d’Alene, visited Central Bark dog park in Coeur d’Alene on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010. Spokane is set to get its own off-leash dog park, with a operating contract scheduled to be awarded Thursday.
(Full-size photo)
A Spokane park soon will host its first frolicking off-leash canine – legally.
The Spokane Park Board is scheduled on Thursday to approve a contract with SpokAnimal C.A.R.E. to open and maintain the city’s first off-leash dog park.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Gail Mackie, SpokAnimal’s executive director. “There isn’t a safe place for people to exercise their dog, run and have fun.”
The park could open as soon as this month, depending if weather conditions allow the installation of a chain-link fence that will be erected around the 11-acre dog area within High Bridge Park, said Rebecca Mack, SpokAnimal’s development director.
When it opens, the land won’t look much different than it does now, except for the fence around it. Mackie said there will be separate play areas for small and large dogs.
“We wanted to have one that was centrally located,” Mackie said.
A donor gave $50,000 to cover the cost of the fence and other expenses associated with opening the park.
Park spokeswoman Nancy Goodspeed said the donor will be revealed sometime after the contract is finalized by the board. SpokAnimal hopes that restrooms, a dog water fountain and other features eventually can be added.
Spokane County opened its first dog park in 2006 at Gateway Regional Park off Interstate 90 near the state line. That park, now called the Patricia Simonet Laughing Dog Park, is maintained by the county’s animal control agency, Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service.
An earlier plan to open a dog park in High Bridge Park was abandoned because of concerns that it would negatively affect falcon hatchlings that drop from nests beneath bridges over Latah Creek. The new location is in a different part of High Bridge Park.
Leroy Eadie, Spokane’s park director, said if the new dog park is a success, the park system likely will look for other locations. Partnering with SpokAnimal has made the prospect of opening a dog park much easier, he said.
“What they bring is experience,” Eadie said. “They are in the dog business.”
MAC faces angry crowd 
eagleproducer on December 08 at 4:58 p.m.
Disgusting beasts. They have no business living amongst us, unless as beasts of burden.
They better leave my frolfing discs alone when I’m playing disc golf in Highbridge.
lowtechmaster on December 08 at 5:14 p.m.
Many people in Spokane have trouble putting food on the table. And we get a park just for dogs. See anything wrong here?
spokanecougar on December 08 at 7:26 p.m.
This is great news for all dog lovers in Spokane, who fortunately outnumber the dog haters like the two above.
Lowtechmaster, did you not read the part where they were able to do this because of a private donor who gave $50,000 to cover the costs?
MaoTenDoo on December 08 at 9:38 p.m.
“The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.” ~Samuel Butler, Notebooks, 1912
Ed Byrnes on December 08 at 11:42 p.m.
So far it appears that friends and foes of dog owners are equally split in the sample that is evident in this forum. I say owners rather than dogs because dogs are quite easily shaped by their environments, which is why Ivan Pavlov used them in his early classical conditioning experiments.