Nashua Dog Owners Group - Bringing an Off Leash Dog Park to Nashua, New Hampshire

January 2, 2005

The Telegraph - Nashua, NH

Doggie heaven. Temporary dog park. Back at the park.

City dog owners working to establish a permanent park for their four-legged friends

Author: DEAN SHALHOUP, Telegraph Staff

The Nashua Dog Owners Group (Nashua DOG), a new nonprofit organization formed to advance the creation of a regulated dog park in the city, currently has a permit to use a fenced-in field at Mine Falls Park on Sundays from 9-11 a.m. for responsible owners to exercise their dogs.

One Sunday, two greyhounds took to racing the perimeter, flashing the astonishing agility and speed for which they're known - and blowing away any other dog that even thought about keeping up. Their cavorting brought some chuckles. "Look at 'em go - they're like kids at recess in grammar school, all that energy," Soubosky said.

Nichols, meanwhile, has had to curtail her involvement recently due to illness in her family. But, she says, she's still 100 percent behind the effort. "It's wonderful to see all these people get things rolling . . . I'm so pleased there are so many dog owners willing to work so hard for the cause." Not everyone she spoke with early on shared her can-do attitude, Nichols said. But that just further fired her desire to help make a dog park become reality. "When we first started, some said it wouldn't work, it couldn't be done," she said. "That's all I needed to hear."

The gated field is accessible by parking at the end of Whipple Street and following the main path over the canal bridge. New visitors are asked to provide proof of their dog's rabies, distemper and kennel cough vaccinations. Donations to the Humane Society for Greater Nashua are welcomed, but not required.

Jessy got some new squeaky toys for Christmas. Her friends Jackson and Murray likely found some, too, under their trees, maybe wrapped with some new chewy bones.

For McGruff and Devo, Santa might have left cozy new beds, or possibly gift certificates for a day of pampering at the groomer's.

But as nice as Christmas with their families was, these guys and more than 100 of their canine friends around Nashua still have their hearts set on the holy grail of doggie gifts: a bona-fide dog park in their city.

Toward that goal, many of their two-legged friends have worked for months researching what it would take to make Nashua's first dog playground happen. And if things go as hoped, they'll be cutting a ribbon sometime this year.

"Certainly, the interest and enthusiasm are there," said Bill "Hawk" Soubosky, Jessy's owner and a vice president of the newly formed Nashua Dog Owners Group, the acronym for which is a perfect fit: Nashua DOG. "It's taking some time, we're moving forward in small steps . . . we're really optimistic, though, because there are so many people out there who support this," he said.

Things got rolling in the spring when Melanie Nichols, a longtime local dog trainer, heard so many of her clients bemoan the lack of a safe, regulated place for dogs to play and exercise that she put together a petition and distributed copies everywhere she could. "I wanted to get people to notice the need (for a park)," Nichols said. An April story in The Telegraph also got word out, and soon Nichols was flooded with e-mails.

Soubosky is among the owners who got involved early, attending the first organizational meeting of the future Nashua DOG at the Humane Society for Greater Nashua.

As a temporary fix, owners made arrangements with the Parks and Recreation Department to use a gated, fenced-in field at Mine Falls Park on Sunday mornings for their dogs. The permit allows! for two hours, from 9-11 a.m., but as Jack White, a local attorney and another Nashua DOG founder, says, that's a lot better than nothing.

"Look at them out there," he said on a recent, windblown Sunday while watching scores of dogs run and play while their owners socialized. "They have such a great time together, they're just like kids." White, who owns Devo, a long-haired whippet, pointed to some dog research he's done. "Socialization is so important to dogs . . . a lot of people don't realize how much. It makes them less aggressive, and generally a lot friendlier with people, too," he said.

When the weather is decent, upwards of 100 dogs, from Great Danes to yorkies, come to play, White said. But even on some colder, less comfortable days of late, plenty still show up.

On the gate hangs a canister for voluntary donations, all of which goes to the Humane Society, Soubosky said. "We only ask for a buck per dog, but some weeks we've had $400 in there. People are being generous, they want to do what they can to help! (a park) happen."

Working hard

One longtime dog park proponent, whose Scottish terrier, McGruff, is a Sunday playgroup regular, is Ward 4 Alderman Marc Plamondon.

In March 2001, Plamondon and then-Public Works Commissioner (and now Alderman-at-large) David Deane publicly voiced their support for a canine playground, suggesting the city use part of the funds from a Community Development Block Grant to build one at Memorial Park on Ledge Street. The proposal didn't make the budget, but that couldn't shake Plamondon's optimism.

"I've got some ideas and some locations in mind," he said as McGruff played on a recent Sunday. "I'm so in favor of this. It's been on my to-do list for a long time." One spot that's emerging as a favorite is an area behind the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua, he said. It runs near a PSNH right-of-way and along the canal. But like Rome, dog parks aren't built in a day. There's funding, and, of course, liability, to consider.

"Nick (Caggiano, superintendent of city park maintenance) made it pretty clear to me there's no money in the Park Recreation budget for a park," Plamondon said. "I also understand the Mine Falls advisory board is against it being there. "I think it's going to come down to how successful the group (Nashua DOG) is in raising money, rallying support and making rules and regulations that will help the city enforce (existing) dog laws. I'd love to see the Humane Society partner up with them too."

Plamondon said he has no immediate plans to file aldermanic legislation, and envisions the eventual route to a successful park going through Concord. "Like I did with some other things, I will probably get our state representatives involved," he said.

Besides being a dog owner, Plamondon said part of his interest in supporting a park comes from seeing too many loose dogs running around and the high number of calls from constituents ! complaining that owners aren't picking up after their pets - which, pa rk or no park, is required under city ordinance. "A park could serve as an ideal partnership between the group, the city and the Humane Society," he said.

At the Sunday playgroup, owners volunteer for weekly "poop patrol" to clean the area both before and after, said Nashua DOG president Lynn L'Heureux. Some basic rules are posted, such as requirements that owners leash dogs while walking to and from playgroup and provide proof of rabies, distemper and kennel cough vaccinations.

Play is monitored; aggressive dogs aren't allowed, nor are females in heat. Skirmishes do happen, but they're very few and are dealt with immediately, L'Heureux said.

Caption:
Dogs play and run at Mine Falls Park last month. A group of dog owners received permission from the city to use a fenced-in baseball field at the park as a temporary dog park from 9-11 a.m. on Sundays.

Fenway, a female dachshund, uses her owner's legs for security as another dog approaches.

Dogs and their owners socialize at Mine Falls Park on a recent Sunday.Staff photos by Kevin Jacobus