Howling with excitement

Margaret Park

Seven Oaks

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This article was published 04/12/2024 (307 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Every Friday, the enclosed field at Marymound School complex comes alive with the pitter-patter of dog paws.

Pooches of all sizes and pedigree race across the field — a golden retriever in one corner, a giant Great Pyrenees in another. A Jack Russell tears after a spaniel, all while a scruffy mixed-breed barks at them from its perch atop one of the picnic tables. It’s collective canine chaos.

This has become the norm for the area, as Marymound has recently decided to make the space a public, off-leash dog park once a week, on Fridays when the kids aren’t in school.

From 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., people and their pooches from the surrounding neighbourhood — and beyond — are welcome to take advantage of the fence and mingle with other community members.

The dog park was originally meant to be a limited, summer opportunity, said Travis Liewicki, a co-ordinator at Marymound who came up with the idea earlier this year. But it stuck.

Now, it’s become a semi-permanent edition to the space, currently open every Friday over the course of the regular school year (September to June).

“It seems like every week there’s some more dogs that come,” Liewicki said. “So the word is spreading. People are enjoying it again. Everyone wants that nice, safe place for their dog to come. There’s not a lot of dog parks in this area… so it’s just a place for people to visit, and it’s been really good, really positive.”

“There’s only a few that are fenced in,” he added. “Most are just kind of open, and I know my dog doesn’t want to come back if she’s let off the leash.”

“It’s just growing, growing, growing,” said Lori Mann, who regularly uses the space alongside fellow resident Lynn Norquay and their dogs, Suki and Abby. “We keep telling people. Every time we walk, we tell people about it.”

“We’re meeting new people all the time, too, and that’s a nice thing, because there’s a lot of people,” Mann said. “We have our little group of a few that we know, and then (we’re now becoming) friends with more and more people. You know, dogs have a tendency to make a social impact.”

“The dogs need it, too,” Norquay said. “They’re social animals; they need this stimulation. Just going for walks isn’t all they need. They need the interaction with the other dogs. The whole thing is wonderful.”

One example of a dog benefiting from the park is Blackie, a foster dog who has opened up considerably since she first began visiting the park on a regular basis. The mixed-breed went from meek to social and energetic, according to her foster parent, Kathy Coyne.

Coyne couldn’t believe the difference at first, she said.

“It’s always great to find opportunities for taking them out to places that we know they’re going to be safe and not run away,” Liewicki said. “Having a nice big fence in the yard is a real benefit to working here.”

Liewicki is a the co-ordinator of Marymound’s SWEEP program, which was put in place to mentor youth and provide them opportunities for paid employment. A summer hotdog cart, which was part of the summer dog park, is run by the kids themselves.

SWEEP gives them a place where they can make mistakes before they go out on their own, Liewicki explained, while giving them connections to the workforce they otherwise may not experience.

Marymound dog park is located at 442 Scotia St. For more information, visit @marymoundwpg on Instagram, Marymound on Facebook, or marymound.com