New spot for your pooch to run free in Kamloops

KAMLOOPS – Kamloops has a new space to let your pooch run free. An off-leash dog park at McDonald Park just opened up.

This is the seventh dog park in the city, according to parks supervisor Shawn Cook. He estimates the dog park cost between $15,000 and $16,000, which he says a good price for the amenity.

“We benefited because there's already irrigation there, there's already grass there, it used to be an outdoor pool so all that work was done and all we had to do was put in the fencing,” Cook says. “Typically a dog park will be anywhere from $35,000 to $50,000 to put one in, but we saved time because we already had all the infrastructure there.”

The idea for a dog park in that location was brought to the city’s attention by the McDonald Park Neighbourhood Association.

“We got feedback from the community association to the public and it was a small enough investment and it’s a very heavily used amenity, dog parks. I think it’s really great that the community association has really pushed for this, they kind of made it happen and put it on the forefront.”

The demand for dog parks is a constant conversation topic, he says, and more spaces are being sought. Juniper Park was the last one in 2017 and requests have been made for a dop park in Dallas and Rayleigh.

Cook hopes that adding a play area for pooches will bring in more traffic to McDonald Park.

“It’s already a really heavily used park with the waterpark, the pickleball courts and all the grass, so it’s just going to make the park even busier, which is good,” Cook says.

The park is open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

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