My White Dog @ the Dog Park
Dog parks, do you like them or hate them? Personally, I’m a fan of certain ones and others really not. When I first got Fin, I waited a few weeks before taking her to one, after all she had to respond to her name and come when called first. I knew of two dog parks in my area and so one day I stopped by the first one. It’s this really nice dog park in St-Lambert that looks well fenced and is separated in two areas, one for small dogs and one for big dogs, and has two sets of doors for access so dogs can’t run out while you are trying to get in and out. I had seen this particular dog park while driving on the highway and when I went to see the La Ronde fireworks from the St-Lambert Seaway Park I had gotten a better view.
Sounds perfect, right? Yes, quite but not so much. Turns out that a couple years ago, the city revamped its dog park and now you need to swipe a card to get access. This card is free to citizens of St-Lambert but if you live outside the city it costs $115 a year. I love my dog but I’m not about to pay that much considering I have to drive 20 minutes to get there so I find this price a little steep. I can understand the reasoning behind it, they invested quite a bit of money to make it nice and safe for dogs and apparently it was getting overcrowded because of its popularity and dogs where getting injured because of aggressive play from some dogs -but $115 a year? Now when I drive by the park I rarely see dogs there unless it’s a Saturday or Sunday, quite sad. By the way, when walking through the Seaway Park I noticed an unlocked gate on the side of the big dog area, so much for the needing a swipe card.
Obviously, we didn’t go to that park. I had seen another one in Brossard, on boulevard Rome near Quartier Dix30. My dad and I ended up at this one instead. I have to say, I will likely never go back to this dog park. It’s an alright park, better than nothing I guess. First off, it’s not totally fenced in, the two sections, where the arrows are, show where the city failed to put fencing. I do hope they fix this before a serious injury (or worse) occurs.
Sounds perfect, right? Yes, quite but not so much. Turns out that a couple years ago, the city revamped its dog park and now you need to swipe a card to get access. This card is free to citizens of St-Lambert but if you live outside the city it costs $115 a year. I love my dog but I’m not about to pay that much considering I have to drive 20 minutes to get there so I find this price a little steep. I can understand the reasoning behind it, they invested quite a bit of money to make it nice and safe for dogs and apparently it was getting overcrowded because of its popularity and dogs where getting injured because of aggressive play from some dogs -but $115 a year? Now when I drive by the park I rarely see dogs there unless it’s a Saturday or Sunday, quite sad. By the way, when walking through the Seaway Park I noticed an unlocked gate on the side of the big dog area, so much for the needing a swipe card.
Obviously, we didn’t go to that park. I had seen another one in Brossard, on boulevard Rome near Quartier Dix30. My dad and I ended up at this one instead. I have to say, I will likely never go back to this dog park. It’s an alright park, better than nothing I guess. First off, it’s not totally fenced in, the two sections, where the arrows are, show where the city failed to put fencing. I do hope they fix this before a serious injury (or worse) occurs.
Arrows highlight dangerous areas of this dog park. photo done with the help of Google streetview
Now, I get that most dogs will probably not jump down seeing as it would be a drop of a few feet, but when they are playing and running around it’s quite likely that they could fall off by accident – Fin did come close. This is, likely, the biggest reason I wouldn’t go back. I didn’t like that there are quite a few areas where the fencing doesn’t quite reach the ground and if you have a small dog, they could easily slip under if they wanted to get out. The day I was there the park was far from clean and you couldn’t take more than 3 steps without having to move to avoid stepping in poop. I was not impressed. Needless to say, it seems reasonable why I never want to go back. Although I would be willing to give it a second try at some point...possibly.
When I got home, I looked up other dog parks in the area hoping to find one that wasn’t too far away, turns there was one in the next town over. I have to say that I enjoy going to the Candiac dog park. It’s a fair size and has some trees and one picnic table but no benches. Save for the last time I was there, the poop bag dispenser always had bags and most owners do pick up after their dog, although there are some that haven’t. I think the city also cleans the park up once a week since the messes aren’t multiplying and taking over. I also appreciate that the city (or someone) has gone to the trouble of adding plastic fencing or chicken wire in the areas where the chain link fencing doesn’t reach the ground – especially since the park is right beside the busy highway. I also like that there is a doggie water fountain for when dogs get thirst from running around. Overall, this has been my favourite park to go to and I’ve gone back a couple times a week since finding it.
When I got home, I looked up other dog parks in the area hoping to find one that wasn’t too far away, turns there was one in the next town over. I have to say that I enjoy going to the Candiac dog park. It’s a fair size and has some trees and one picnic table but no benches. Save for the last time I was there, the poop bag dispenser always had bags and most owners do pick up after their dog, although there are some that haven’t. I think the city also cleans the park up once a week since the messes aren’t multiplying and taking over. I also appreciate that the city (or someone) has gone to the trouble of adding plastic fencing or chicken wire in the areas where the chain link fencing doesn’t reach the ground – especially since the park is right beside the busy highway. I also like that there is a doggie water fountain for when dogs get thirst from running around. Overall, this has been my favourite park to go to and I’ve gone back a couple times a week since finding it.
RSS Feed