On the warm, summer night of Thursday, September 8th, PetSafe® Brand welcomed the City of Durham, NC into its family of dog parks, with a $25,000 grant to build a new play-place for people and their pets. Food and beer vendors, city officials, and a host of local hounds and their owners gathered to celebrate under the pavilion in Durham Central Park.
President of the Board of Trustees of the Durham Parks Foundation, John Goebel, said, “This is going to go to a dog park over at Duke Park, and that one will probably be done very quickly with this nice gift from PetSafe Brand.”
Members of the PetSafe Brand team were on hand, getting to know the community and their pets and giving out leashes, harnesses, toys and treats. Thanks to a restructuring, the PetSafe Bark for Your Park program is now able to positively impact more communities and more pets than ever before.
Durham is one of 5 $25,000 grant recipients, and each of these will be building a brand new dog park. Another 10 communities will get $10,000 to upgrade their existing dog parks, and 10 more will get $5,000 for park maintenance.
Celebrity Pet Expert, Harrison Forbes, said, “Durham is a really great, progressive city here in North Carolina, and they’re doing a lot of cool, fantastic things to better the quality of life here for not only the people but their pets. So what better thing to do than get another dog park? It’s a great way to socialize. You can teach your dog a lot of things about how to get along with other dogs and people. It’s good to get them out. You can meet other people that are, likewise, dog and pet lovers.”
“The Durham Parks and Recreation Department is highly committed to providing canine recreation areas accessible to all of our residents and their dogs,” said Rhonda B. Parker, Director of Durham Parks and Recreation. “Thanks to the $25,000 grant from PetSafe Brand, we can now build a permanent dog park within Duke Park, one of the city’s oldest and most popular neighborhood parks, ensuring that those living close to the downtown area will have a place for their dogs to run and play off-leash for years to come.”
The new PetSafe dog park will be called “Dog-wood Park at Duke Park” within the broader Duke Park at 106 W. Knox St. The dog park will include separate fenced areas for large dogs and small dogs and will preserve many of the land’s original features. Construction will begin in spring of 2017.
