We’ve been blessed in Montgomery County with a great environment to do business, raise our families, and foster a citizenry with a strong sense of family and community. Nearly every week, local organizers sponsor events – from antique car shows to baseball leagues, from basketball and football games to bike rallies and Court Days – which bring us together and instill that strong sense of community.
Just like their owners, dogs need a place to meet and greet, to socialize with others of their kind and learn socialization skills to get along better in the world. And though the parks have been built for their dogs, they also bring together pet lovers – like-minded people with a common interest – and provide us an opportunity to get that human contact we all need to thrive.
Among this community’s attributes, our parks stand as a beacon of all that’s best. They bring us together. They give us opportunities to engage, exercise, play, and socialize.
With those goals in mind, Love of Paws approached the Montgomery County Parks and Recreation Commission requesting they designate space for a dog park. To our great fortune, the commission granted our proposal and offered us space in Pribble Park to construct a play space for our canine friends.
Located at the end of the old railroad tracks just beyond the Post Office, the park, itself, had been deteriorating for some time. Once home to little league baseball fields, it quit being used when the bridge into the park was condemned for car traffic. After that, it became a sporting ground for addicts and vandals. The abandoned buildings nearby got tagged with vulgar graffiti and images, and debris and garbage began trashing the place further.
So, we cleared out the garbage and the riff-raff and built a dog park. We set aside a portion for the smaller dogs, another for the larger, to minimize risk and provide areas more specific to the play tastes of small terriers versus German Shepards. We set up benches, rebuilt walking bridges to access it, cleared out the natural debris and set up chain-link fences to cordon off their play areas.
Even though fences ward them in, they provide large open areas to meet other dogs for play and frolic; and better yet, a chance to slip the leash and run free, outside the confines of their four-walled world.
We’ve taken an opportunity to bring people and pets to our downtown and to bring foot-traffic into the area. But more importantly, we’ve revitalized a park, which gives our dogs an opportunity to socialize, exercise and play. And it brings a whole lot of people who have a similar interest together — to socialize and interact with those who share a common interest. It keeps our town alive and it helps us thrive. It brings our shut-ins out and offers an opportunity for them to rejoin society.
