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Guest Column: Going to the Dogs
, Guest Column
02:06PM / Monday, November 28, 2016
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To the Editor:

Hopefully, Berkshire County will be going to the dogs.

To the dog parks that is and here's why. As the population declines countywide, so does the number of children playing in the youth sports leagues. Participation in these leagues has dropped over 50 percent since they started and the future looks bleak for almost all of the leagues. Soon the question will be, what will the city do with all of those vacant fields and courts? Probably as little as possible as manpower usually shrinks in the Parks and Rec departments.

Years ago, cities and towns started eliminating the swimming pools and skating rinks and it's time to start eliminating or repurposing the dormant ball fields and basketball courts too. It's always difficult for a city to shrink it's maintenance footprint and grow as a city at the same time. The only answer to this question is to convert these spaces into dog parks. Hear me out as the benefits far outweigh the costs.

What prompted this idea was the recent opening of North Adams' first dog park. The news release mentioned that the only other dog park in the county is French Dog Park in Egremont, (Lenox is currently in the planning stage for one).

My wife and I visited the dog park and found that a dog park above all else will bring people and neighborhoods together. It will act as a social gathering spot for everyone, (including singles), with a dog. We stayed there for an hour and it was a steady wave of people coming and going with their dogs. Someone had donated a bunch of inexpensive plastic lawn chairs that the pet lovers were using. It was incredible to see how dogs can unite people who normally would never get to know each other. It doesn't matter if you're a bank president, the bank janitor or the drummer for Wilco — as we're all judged at the dog park on how our pets behave.

Who would've thought that man's best friend would be the common denominator that brings us together? But then again it should've been obvious. With dog parks the famous line from the movie, "Field of Dreams," is applicable: "If you build it, they will come."

And they will. The people at the Egremont dog park all said that they have met people from as far away as Northampton and Agawam. One of the gentleman that I spoke with was up visiting from Long Island.

The close-second best attribute of dog parks is that they are inexpensive to build and maintain. At this time, we're researching an acre of dormant, partially wooded land near downtown North Adams as a future dog park site. A local fence contractor quoted a price of $15,000 for fence and roughly one to two weeks to install. No, it's not the latest and greatest dog park, but the dogs don't care, they just want to is run free, smell stuff and meet other dogs.

This isn't rocket science — it's essentially dirt, sticks and stones. Throw down a couple of yards of pine bark mulch at the gate and North Adams has one of the coolest dog parks in Western Massachusetts. And it will cost less to convert an abandoned ball field as with just some fence modification, ($8/foot installed), and in a single day, there will be a dog park in your part of town. Possible additions could be a fitness/walking trail, a dog agility course, and maybe a water feature. Maintenance is minimal for the city. Just regularly pick up the poop barrel throw around some pine bark mulch in the gate area. There's almost no mowing or trimming needed.

There are strict rules like no smoking, eating and drinking. All dogs must be registered in any town and be wearing the tags to prove it. People using the park police themselves when it comes to the rules and chronic rule breakers can get barred from the park. These are dogs though, so patrons should be in easy control of their dog at all times.

Will dog parks bring jobs? Probably not. But they will bring opportunities, almost all of which will be dog-service related. Who's to say what would spin-off from this newly found foot and paw traffic? As towns become more populated with dogs, the out-of-towners will only stay longer if they know that their pet is welcome.

Why can't the Berkshires be known for its dog parks as well as its culture and natural beauty? Like Napa Valley is to wine, why can't the Berkshires be THE place to visit with your dog? Visitors could go from dog park to dog park, just like they go from museum to museum now. These parks certainly wouldn't compete with the culture crowd, (who also own dogs), it would only improve it, as well as improving the local community social scene. And that's good for everyone.

David Willette is an outdoor writer and vice president of the Hoosic River Revival. He lives in North Adams.

 

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