Keep the faith. Iola will have a dog park. A dog park was near the top of the list of desirable park plans suggested by Landworks Studio derived from public feedback. Landworks’ primary objective, when it came to parks, was to improve existing parks and develop uses for area that came to the city following the 2007 flood. Since the city parks department has to mow these areas, having a use for them makes a lot of sense.
From the people perspective, a dog park makes sense because it responds to a difference of opinion between dogs and humans. Both species need exercise. A dog’s natural instincts are to respond to that need; they don’t understand why their human doesn’t run with them. A human’s natural instinct (for too large a percentage) is to avoid the need whenever possible.
Some dog owners get exercise by walking their dogs. Walking a mile with a very small dog probably does the job. The very small dog takes several steps for each step of the owner. But as the dogs become larger the value of this exercise decreases. At some point, I would guess around a 10-pound dog, walking a mile doesn’t come close to meeting the needs of the dog. Then factor in that most dogs really want to run. They can run for miles. Few of us can meet that need.
That’s the most obvious reason why there are dog parks. Secondarily, dogs are like children. They love to romp and play and associate with their own kind and with children or any adult that still has that youthful spirit.
So back to the first paragraph with an attempt to explain why we are where we are and not where we should be. One reason is that some of us don’t understand why the city should provide children’s play parks or tennis parks or whiffle ball parks or soccer parks or any other sort of park that we ourselves don’t use. The only answer can be that if any city is going to operate and meet public demand, they do those things. We work together to provide for the overall need, not the individual need. This results in differences of opinion, making it difficult to get all six feet of our commission to land on the same plan at the same time. But they will get together.
Dog parks in other cities are usually in residential areas. This allows more people to walk their dogs to the park and is personally safer due to high visibility. This said, the best location in Iola would be in the park at Cottonwood and Garfield, but that isn’t likely to happen.
The latest thought in the mix is to replace the old water tower lots with a dog park. The tower is coming down; the fence will remain; the addition of some fence will provide a small dog area and the paddock (entrance) to the two play areas; the lack of shade will be partially compensated by building shade covers. This shade doesn’t compare to the shade of a tree since there is no moisture evaporation from leaves that lowers the temperature of air a degree or two, and maybe more, as it drops through the leaves. But we can’t have everything.
The area is small but the cost is low. And as one commissioner said, “It’s a beginning”.
Ray Shannon,
Iola, Kan.
