October 6, 2008
Holiday Pet Pictures at Canton Dog Park! Get an early start on the holidays by bringing your pet(s) to the Canton Dog Park for a picture with Santa or a picture in front of our winter wonderland scene.
The cost is $15.00 and your picture will be emailed to you.
All pets must be well-behaved and on a leash.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2008
10:00 am to 12:00 pm
(rain date is November 16, 2008 - same time & place)
October 6, 2008
Mark your calendars! The 4th annual Barcstoberfest will be held OCTOBER 18, 2008 in Patterson Park. Canton Dog Park is hosting a COSTUME CONTEST at this event. Registration will be from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and the contest will begin at 1:30 pm. For information about other activities at the 2008 Barcstoberfest, visit the Barcs website.
June 26, 2008
Anniversary celebration raises awareness and operating funds for the Canton Dog Park.
The Friends of the Canton Dog Park's annual summer fundraising event, held on Saturday, June 7th at the Canton Dog Park, was a HUGE success thanks to you - our friends and supporters! Thank you for coming out on such a hot day to share your thoughts, offer support, and provide ideas on how together we can improve the City's only official Dog Park! Our next project will be renovating the park. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.
Special kudos go out to Jim Hettleman, the event coordinator. His tireless efforts paid off with our most successful fundraiser yet. Thanks Jim!
We'd like to take a moment and thank the business community for your tireless support of our efforts at this event.
2910 on the Square
WTMD - 89.7 FM
Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter
Bin 604
Cake Love
Canton Club Health and Fitness
Charm City Dogs
The Daily Grind – Canton Firehouse
Dockside Veterinary Medical Center
Doghouse Girls Dog Walking & Pet Sitting Service
Dogma
Eastern Animal Hospital
JD’s Smokehouse
Mama’s on the Half Shell
Maryland SPCA
Nacho Mama’s
Partnership Wealth Management
Savannah Park jewelry
Southern Galvanizing Company
Vircity
Insert dog joke here.
You know, something about Canton pet owners putting on the dog, the park going to the dogs, volunteers working doggedly. Or maybe about it being time to teach an old dog park new tricks.
However it’s phrased, the fact remains that after five years of service, the Canton Dog Park is due (or even overdue) for some R & R, meaning in this case, renovations and rehab. According to Gina Schwind, president of the Friends of the Canton Dog Park, the changes are needed from the ground up.
“If you look at the dog park, it’s really starting to show its age,” says Schwind. “There’s wear and tear, and the asphalt paths are starting to crumble.”
Schwind says that before the park, located on Toone Street, was made canine-friendly, “it was kind of a dumping area.” In 2003, the area was fenced, improved and opened for dog/owner use. But the constant wear and tear on the soil has meant that the area’s history as a dumping ground is once again becoming visible.
“We’re seeing old building materials, old glass, things like that,” says Schwind. “We really need to resurface everything.”
At a recent meeting with local architect Amy Cooney, who created the designs for Thames Street Park, new ideas for the dog park were put forth.
Given the amount of foot traffic and the amount of dog waste in the park, Schwind says, “of course grass isn’t going to grow, so there isn’t much point in planting it.”
Instead, volunteers are looking at “using some type of gravel” as a surfacing. (Decomposed granite is one of the surfaces being considered; in decades past, this type of material was used as surfacing on athletic tracks before all-weather synthetic surfaces such as latex came into popularity).
The advantage of decomposed granite, according to Schwind, is that “it doesn’t hold odor as much” and that “fleas and different things can’t breed in it.”
Low-maintenance is a key factor, she added, since all work on the park is done by volunteers.
Ideally, there would also be drinking fountains on both sides of the park, which could be used for dogs, rather than just having a bucket.
The park also stands to receive other landscaping, including the placement of boulders which in addition to creating variety, would give dog owners places to sit. Shade structures may also be added so that owners have shelter in inclement weather.
The dwarf trees in the park will be moved (volunteers are seeking new homes for them). Schwind says that the committee is also looking for a way to preserve the larger trees in the park, some of which have been damaged by chewing.
The overall intent of the rehab is not only to improve the facilities, according to Schwind, but to keep the park handicap-accessible and user-friendly. She also would like to see the outside perimeter made more attractive and inviting to passersby.
The dog park, says Schwind, has become an asset to the neighborhood, and is “definitely a selling point” for real estate agents in the area.
At the same time, she notes, the dog park has become “a victim of its own success,” with large numbers of dogs and owners using it, which has led to the breakdown of the soil.
She estimates that on the large dog side of the park (the park has two sections to allow dogs to interact with others of their own size and activity level), “at any given time on a Saturday, there are 25 dogs every two hours, maybe 25 to 30 at the height of usage.” Another busy time, she says, is after 5 p.m. on weekdays.
A survey of dog park users (which estimates size of dogs and amount of use) will be conducted during this weekend’s dog park clean-up; those who can not be present can e-mail dogpark@cantoncommunity.org in order to receive a copy of the survey, and to complete and return it.
The Canton Dog Park does ask that users abide by a list of rules concerning hours of usage, as well as dog/owner behavior, which can be found on the Canton Community Association Website, www.cantoncommunity.org, under the Dog Park link near the top of the page.
One reason the dog park is so popular is that it remains the city’s only official off-leash dog park. Other neighborhoods who are currently discussing adding their dog parks include Locust Point. (Information on the effort can be found at the site, www.locustpointdogpark.org).
The cost of improving the Canton Dog Park, says Schwind, is difficult to estimate. She is hopeful that local merchants and business owners will contribute building materials, labor and donations to the effort. (As an example, she would like to have local artists and craftsman help develop the shade structure for the park).
The original cost of the dog park, she stated, was about $50,000 for benches and fences and the water source now in use.
The cost of improving the park is “roughly maybe double that,” she adds.
Already, some charitable organizations are at work helping to raise funds. Paws For A Cause reportedly is working on fund raising for the fountains on both sides of the park.
The effort is expected to take some time: approximately six months until a complete plan is available, then about a year for full fund raising. Schwind anticipates that there will be about a three-month closure of the park (volunteers are hopeful the closure can be during the winter months when it gets less use, she notes) during the actual resurfacing. Afterward, the park may be able to be in use while other landscaping and improvement efforts go on. Volunteers are hoping that all work will be done by the spring of 2010.
The Friends of the Canton Dog Park are continuing to seek volunteers to help in the effort to rehab the park.
“We want to get everyone involved, not just dog owners,” says Schwind.
Her present volunteers, she notes, “are a really good group.”
Those interested in getting involved in the effort have regular opportunities to meet with the group. The Canton Dog Park holds its clean-up on the first Saturday of every month, 10 a.m.-noon. The next clean-up will be held on Feb. 2. Public meetings of the Friends are held on the second Tuesday of each month at the Broom Factory, Boston and Baylis streets, suite 235, at 7 p.m. The next meeting will be on Feb. 12.
On Saturday, March 1, the Friends of the Canton Dog Park hold their spring fling happy hour from 4 p.m.-8 p.m. at Mike McGovern’s in Canton. Food is free, drinks are not. Prizes and a 50/50 raffle. The proceeds will be going to the park’s renovation fund. Info on all dog-park-related programs and activities: dogpark@cantoncommunity.org, 410-342-0900 (24-hour voice mail).
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