Bigger Camarillo dog park wanted
Existing facility lacks grass, is too small, residents say
By Sam Richard
July 14, 2006
The cost of a dog pull toy: $10. A leash: $20. A new dog park in Camarillo: Price
y?
For Julius Hirsch, replacing Camarillo's small dog park with a larger one is something for which he's willing to help raise money.
"I really want a dog park in Camarillo," said Hirsch, 68. "I know the process is going to take a long time. Something like this — getting a dog park — doesn't happen over night. There's a lot that has to go into it."
Fences and irrigation would be just a few of the costs. For the dog park to become reality, Hirsch said, he needs the help of others.
Hirsch and several other Camarillo residents asked the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District board last month to find a new area where pooches can play and socialize.
Skip Sanchez, acting general manager of the district, said he is looking into the idea. There are no projected cost estimates.
"Right now, it's just in the basic stages of looking," he said, adding that several potential sites are being checked out.
The best place could be a park in Mission Oaks with plenty of parking, Sanchez said at a recent board meeting.
Hirsch said he has already organized nearly 15 dog owners who say their pets need a better park. On a recent Saturday morning, Hirsch loaded his dogs, Sadie and Guinness, into his Honda CR-V and drove to what one owner described as "dog heaven" — the dog park in Thousand Oaks.
Hirsch said it's a model for the one he'd like in Camarillo. The Thousand Oaks park, on Avenida de las Flores near Highway 23, cost about $150,000 to build three years ago, said Loren Pluth, senior park planner for the Conejo Recreation and Park District. The price tag would be higher today, because of rising construction costs, he said.
Several Camarillo residents said they go almost every weekend to the Thousand Oaks park — a double-gated, 3.5-acre facility divided into two sections for big and small dogs.
"It's a growing need," said Jan Simons of Camarillo. "There's always been people congregating at local parks and you know they've always had to look over their shoulder to make sure the police don't come by and tell us to leave."
Several dog owners said the existing Camarillo dog park, at Camarillo Grove County Park near the Conejo Grade, has decent facilities but is too small — about a quarter-acre.
Virtually all of the land is dirt, and shade trees dominate the area.
The Thousand Oaks park has grass and more sun.
The existing Camarillo park cost $29,273, Sanchez said. Funding for a new facility could come from the district, donations and grants, he said.
"If the city doesn't supply something, it's going to be a liability issue," said Alec Spector, a member of Hirsch's group and the owner of a pet-sitting service.
"You've got to exercise them somehow."
One risk owners take at a dog park is getting attacked by other dogs, said Richard Polsky, an animal behavior expert for nearly 25 years. But Polsky, based in Los Angeles, said dangerous incidents are rare.
Butler University researchers examined 177 dogs at a park in Indiana over eight months in 2001 and found they rarely acted aggressively.
"They have a built-in need for social contact," Polsky said. "For the vast majority of owners, it (a park) fulfills the need of exercise and social contact."
For Hirsch, "it's just a place where dogs can be free."