By Alice Gregory of the Palm Beach Post
Dog owners praise Boca Raton’s temporary facility for canines
April 1 2001
Michael Jordan showed up for the opening of the new Boca Raton Dog Park on Saturday.
Waiting for the next playful pooch to scurry through the gate, Jordan, a black Labrador retriever mix, ran back and forth, greeting dogs-and some owners-with sloppy kisses and a wagging tail.
He was not the only one happy to be running free in Boca Raton’s new park for its four-legged residents. All day long, pet owners and city officials brought their canine companions too the long awaited, 2-acre site off of Broken Sound Boulevard in the T-Rex Technology Center.
“It’s fun because every body here is a dog lover so they play with everybody else’s dogs,” said Mark Freedman, who brought his entire family, including Chestnut, a golden retriever and cocker spaniel mix, who delighted in the fact that he could sprint around the park leash-free.
Although the temporary park is a bare-bones site, the $63,000 faciliyt has two fenced in areas-one for small dogs and another for large dogs. The park also provides a shelter and ground level water fountain, where Simba a yellow Labrador, played in the dirt.
The park is free and is open form 9 am until dusk six day a week. On Wednesdays, the park does not open until noon. For the dogs’s owners, the city provides plastic-bag dispensers to help in picking up droppings, a courtesy required under park rules.
City officials plan to build the dog park on a portion of the 308 acres owned by the city, but until those grounds are designed, they decided the need was so great that they would go ahead with the temporary facility. For some pooches, the park was a place to meet other dogs for the first time.
“If they don’t have exposure to other, dogs, they grow up to be afraid of them,” said Tim Mosely, who brought Brandubh, a four year-old black Labrador who jumped around like an excited kindergartener on the first day of school.
Owners enjoyed the camaraderie, as well.
“It’s great because we get to socialize,” said Valerie Mattlage, who brought her two small dogs – Otto and Bizzie.
“It’s so nice and way overdue.”