Nonprofit “Friends of SLO City Dog Parks”, is working to bring enclosed dog parks to the city of San Luis Obispo.
The area of focus right now for the group is Laguna Park, which already has a dog park, it’s just not enclosed. The community group held its first fundraiser Saturday to help raise funds for that project.
Currently, there are no enclosed dog parks in the city of San Luis Obispo, but the nonprofit is looking to change that with the help of the city.
“The city recently passed the parks and recreation Blueprint for the Future, which is our 20-year master plan and one of the key items was an enhanced dog park and more dog parks for our community," said SLO City Parks & Recreation director, Greg Avakian.
“If dogs are in a dog park early enough it helps with socializing with other dogs and other people. It helps with their mental being by running free," said John McKenzie, Friends of SLO City Dog Parks president.
City parks and recreation said they have set aside 200,000 dollars for upgrades and part of the funding will go straight to the Laguna Dog Park to install an outer perimeter fence.
“We do playgrounds for kids, now it’s time we do playgrounds for dogs. We are really looking forward to adding those amenities to our city parks," said Avakian.
The community group of about 120 people held their first fundraiser to help raise funds for permanent agility equipment within the park. McKenzie said the enclosed dog park will be about three acres and include separate spaces for big and small dogs and even a section for puppies.
The city of SLO parks and recreation department says they will be taking community input on what amenities community members would like to see added to the park including the type of fencing and surface type.
“It’s exciting I spend a lot of time blood, sweat, and tears and it feels like it’s coming together," said McKenzie.
The city survey will be live Monday morning on theirwebsite.
The goal is to be able to collect as many community responses to see what individuals would like to see within the dog park. The nonprofit says they hope to be able to do further fundraisers later this year to help with funding. The goal is to have six enclosed dog parks throughout San Luis Obispo.
