After completing a successful pilot run last summer, Boston’s North End neighborhood is now one step closer to building a permanent dog park thanks to a $25,000 grant recently awarded through PetSafe® Brand’s Bark for Your Park™ program. Boston is one of 25 cities nationwide that was selected to receive funding to build an off-leash dog park through this year’s Bark for Your Park grant-giving program.

In spring 2015, Responsible Urbanites for Fido (RUFF)—a small, community dog group—partnered with the City of Boston Parks & Recreation Department to open a pilot dog park at DeFilippo Park. The purpose of the pilot program, which ran May–July 2015, was to determine if a dog park would be utilized and well-received by the community. After the pilot program proved to be a major success, RUFF petitioned the city to transition the space into an official, permanent dog park.

“We were thrilled to receive such an overwhelmingly positive response from the community during the pilot program,” said Leslie Horn, president, and co-founder of RUFF. “The goal now is to transform this bare-bones, concrete space into a plush, open, and safe dog park, and we are extremely grateful to PetSafe Brand for helping us make this dream come true.”

The new PetSafe dog park will be located within the DeFilippo Park off Prince St. & Snow Hill St. The two-level dog park, which allows for separate areas for small and large dogs, will be updated with artificial turf, automatic irrigation and landscaping, and will also feature other pet-friendly amenities including drinking fountains, fire hydrant sprinklers, ramps and added agility and recreation equipment. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2017, with the goal of having the new dog park fully operational by late spring/early summer 2017.

“The PetSafe Bark for Your Park program is all about finding enthusiastic, pet-loving communities that support allocating green space, investing time and energy in improving their community and encouraging responsible pet ownership,” said Willie Wallace, CEO of Radio Systems® Corporation, makers of the PetSafe Brand. “RUFF, the City of Boston and the North End community epitomize our mission to help provide dog parks that will be truly loved, used, and supported for years to come, and we are honored to be able to support them in this endeavor.”

PetSafe Brand developed and launched the nationwide Bark for Your Park program in 2011 to help communities build their own off-leash dog parks. This year, PetSafe Brand restructured the contest into a grant-giving program and increased the number of awards from five to 25, with five communities—including Boston—receiving $25,000 for new dog parks, 10 communities receiving $10,000 park upgrade awards, and 10 communities receiving $5,000 park maintenance awards. Recipients will be awarded a combination of funds as well as commercial-grade dog park equipment from UltraSite™, a PlayCore company.

Boston is one of five communities in the Northeast region to receive a grant through the PetSafe Bark for Your Park program. Guilford, Conn., and Medford, N.J. received $10,000 grants to upgrade their local dog parks, while Provincetown, Mass., and Sanford, Maine both received $5,000 grants for park maintenance. For a list of all Bark for Your Park grant recipients announced to date, visit www.petsafe.net/barkforyourpark.

About the PetSafe® Brand

PetSafe® Brand is an industry leader in the development of innovative pet behavioral, containment and lifestyle product solutions. PetSafe® Brand is owned by Radio Systems® Corporation and headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn. For more information, visit www.petsafe.net or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

About UltraSite™

UltraSite™, a PlayCore company, manufactures high-quality commercial-grade dog park equipment that is based on popular agility obstacles and designed for dogs of all sizes, abilities and confidence levels. For more information, visit www.dogparkproduct.com.