Ken and Catherine McEwen think the new off-leash dog area in Moody Park is pawsome.
The McEwens spearheaded an effort to encourage the city to create an off-leash area in Moody Park, noting many apartment dwellers living around the park need a place to exercise and socialize their dogs. Although the amenity needs some finishing touches, the McEwens are pleased with the new off-leash area in their neighbourhood.
“It’s really nice,” Catherine said. “When it first opened there was sometimes up to 20 dogs in there.”
The Moody Park off-leash area is located near the Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street entrance to Moody Park.
While they’re pleased with the off-leash area, the McEwens have written to city hall asking the city to consider offering more seating in the space.
“There is only the two picnic tables, which means everybody congregates down at one end. When the big dogs are in there, it’s hard for the little dogs,” Catherine said. “If they had some seating all the way up on one side, we would go sit up there with the little dogs and let the big dogs have the wider end. It makes it a little difficult at times with not enough seating. We do a lot of standing around.”
Having gotten to know some of the dog owners living around Moody Park in the past few years, the McEwens have also asked the city to consider lighting for the space.
“A lot of the ladies are worried about being in that area of the park in the dark with all those trees,” Catherine said. “They are a little concerned.”
Owners of small dogs would also like the city to see what can be done to address gaps at the bottom of the fence surrounding the off-leash dog area.
“There are areas where little dogs can get out. If somebody throws a ball over the fence, then the little dogs are going under,” Catherine said. “Our guy can’t get under there, but some of the others can.”
Diane Perry, the city’s manager of community development, said the off-leash dog area is very well used and there appears to be a big contingent of dog owners in the Moody Park neighbourhood. She said plans are afoot to provide more seating.
“We are actually going to try and come up with some sort of log-type benches that blend in with the area, as opposed to putting in standard benches,” she said. “Our park and open space person is trying to work on a design for that.”
Perry said the city knew there would be issues with a gap underneath the fencing because the decorative fence comes in panels that go straight across and can’t be angled. A screening product will go on the bottom of the fence.
“For the lighting, that was never really discussed before. One of the things that was on the plus side of the column for picking that location was that that is next to the main path that has some evening lighting,” she said. “Currently, none of our dog parks do have lighting in them. We are just trying to get it up and running fully and see how things go and then go back to the public and see what’s working well and what isn’t.”
