Aug 012015
 

Introducing the South Loop Dogs of the Week, Blu and Louis!

blu_and_louie_1

Blu and Louie’s human, Deborah, says:

Blu and Louie love Fred Anderson Dog Park! Blu is quite the attraction as he is obsessed with the fountain, barking and trying to eat the water, while Louie loves to chase and be chased!

Blu is the newest addition to our family, having adopted him from a rescue in Yorkville in April, Louie and I are very lucky and grateful for Blu!

Louis is the white dog with the black face, in back, and Blu the smaller black dog, in front.

What a great pair!

blu_and_louie_2

They sure have a lot of toys!!

Oct 012011
 

We’ve received word from the PDNA (Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance) that they have installed three new dog waste bag dispensers in the South Loop!  This is good news, and those of you who’ve seen the dispensers at Grant Bark Park and Coliseum Park Dog Run will be familiar with them:

This is apparently ‘Phase 1’.  Phase 1 Dispenser locations include:

  1. 18th & Calumet – just outside northwest corner of Battle of Ft. Dearborn Park (Prairie District Townhomes Ph I HOA)
  2. 2000 S. Prairie & Culleton – south East Corner (Prairie East Townhome HOA)
  3. 2303 S. Michigan Ave – Rear entrance of Motor Row Lofts (Motor Row Lofts HOA)
According to the PDNA –
We will be working with Alderman Fioretti’s office for preparation of permits for at least two additional area location dispensers after our PDNA Annual Howl-O-Ween Pet Costume Contest and Party on October 27th, 2011 at Glessner House Museum.
Great job, PDNA!
 Posted by on October 1, 2011
Apr 202011
 

Can the Chicago Park District support Poo Free Parks?

Can the City of Chicago?

Poo Free Parks is a program to provide advertising-supported dog waste bag dispensers that require no city effort to support, no ‘volunteers’ to keep on top of things, and no cost to taxpayers.

What’s the catch?

There is none.

And it’s a beautiful implementation of GPS-aware and web-savvy design – want to find a dispenser? Go to the webpage and you’ll see a map of all locations, and you can report any issues online:

The town of Elmhurst is installing PooFreeParks dispensers this week.

So will the Chicago Park District embrace this?

What do you think!  🙂

It’s going to take a lot of effort.  Please comment or contact us if you think this project is worth supporting in Chicago!

 

 

Aug 212010
 

There’s a new dog park at Adams & Sangamon in the West Loop .

It’s a small park, but an interesting space, located on the west side of Bartelme park on Sangamon street:

Interesting that there’s no ‘pea gravel’ in the park, only the different concrete levels and several patches of artificial dog turf.

There’s a very nice self-filling water fountain located at the center of the park (it’s obscured by the tree at the front of this picture).

No poo bag dispensers yet. And there’s only one entrance, on the sidewalk at the far end in this picture.

Will the dogs get used to the space? Will they take to the artificial dog grass?  Will they be happy fetching in the triangular layout?

The concrete levels do provide some interesting sitting space for the humans.

And, you can really tell it’s a dog friendly area – according to the Chicago Park District – because if you put a huge chain on your dog, then you can let her smell the flowers!

 Posted by on August 21, 2010
Jun 152010
 

One of the two most common questions that people bring up is – “Why is the Grant Bark Park surfaced with asphalt?“.*

A reasonable question.  The last thing I think any of us would propose de novo is to build an off-leash dog park that looks like the parking lot at your local mall:

The Chicago Park District requires that DFA be hard-surfaced, and states that hard surfaces prevent transmission of bacteria and viruses. But this is not some bureaucrat’s whim, and there’s a history behind the decision.

The proponents of the first dog park in Chicago, Wiggly Field, spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best surface for an off leash area in the City.  They noticed that grass quickly became mud, and they carried out tests for the parasites left behind in various surfaces, with the help of veterinary consultants.  They approached the issue of determining the appropriate surface for dog ‘friendly’ areas thoughtfully.  And it was their input that guided the policy decision made in 2000.  Their work is written up in the attached document, which we’re posting with permission of Stacey Hawk of DAWG:

Click to download a PDF version of the document

For those of us concerned about the off-leash dog ares in Chicago, this is an important read.   The priority issue is clearly stated: Infectious Disease Control.  On page 2 of the document, the issues and concerns with various surfaces are explored, and the argument is made for requiring a hard-surface at ‘DFA’s, and for allowing a pea-gravel relief area (with some constraints).

There are also some revealing compromises stated up front –  particularly, that “dog guardians should ideally cross-train and exercise their dogs in various environments“.

This is a document that impacts all of us as dog people in the City.  The evidence and arguments supporting the ‘hard surface’ decision were provided by dog advocates, not by bureaucrats.  Those of us who believe that ‘dog park as parking lot’ is a reductio ad absurdum will have to acknowledge and address the issues raised in this report if we are to propose a different direction.

* The other being – Where is that dog park, anyway?

May 042010
 

The May newsletter from our new business member Dogone Fun! includes a nice shout-out for the SLDogPAC.

Thanks y’all!

But I gotta say, we wish it only cost ” a minimum of $400 per year to maintain” the parks 😮 It’s more like $4000 +🙂 And like you point out, that money does not just show up, it only comes from memberships and donations.


Breaking news: Dogone Fun! is going to participate with the South Loop Dog PAC in the Grant Bark Park Spring Cleanup on Sunday May 16th.  Watch for the announcement!

Jan 142010
 

There’s a report that last week two dogs were shocked in Chicago.  This time of year can be particularly dangerous – recall that in February 2007 a dog was electrocuted in Grant Park – so be careful out there.  The SLDogPAC would like to hear about any incidents and has put this issue on its agenda.  Unfortunately we have a LOT going on, so if you’d like to help, please let us know –  join, email, or tweet.  Thanks to Blair Sorrel of StreetZaps for the heads-up.  We’ve put a link to the StreetZaps site in our sidebar.

 Posted by on January 14, 2010