Takoma Park's First Dog Park To Open In April

TAKOMA PARK, MD — Takoma Park's first fenced-in, off-leash dog park located at the end of Darwin Avenue near Takoma-Piney Branch Park is opening Sunday, April 2.

Construction for the much-anticipated dog park started in October 2016 after three unsuccessful efforts to bring a park to the community. The $200,000 project sits behind Takoma Park Middle School and is accessible via Darwin Avenue.

The city has worked closely with TakomaDogs on site selection and design of the park. TakomaDogs started about five years ago to bring a canine-friendly park to the city. Through a petition drive with over 1,500 signatures, presentations at City Council meetings, marches in the parade and many more efforts, TakomaDogs made it their priority to create the dog park.

"It's just a really nice amenity for a community like Takoma Park, and it was a big hole in the offerings Takoma Park had," Joe Edgell of TakomaDogs told Patch.

Edgell said the design and location the city chose for the park deviated considerably from what the organization proposed.

The city decided that the dog park will be behind Takoma Park Middle School, since it's on city-owned land and officials thought the park would be built quickly there, although Edgell believes it wasn't the most cost-effective option.

TakomaDogs suggested several other sites Edgell believes would have come in significantly less expensive than the site Takoma Park chose.

Dollars started adding up at this site since Takoma Park Middle School property had extensive storm water runoff that would blow out the dog park. City officials and the school district were forced to clear up this issue before finishing the dog park, Edgell said.

"I'm thrilled we have a dog park," Edgell said, despite it being in a different location than TakomaDogs proposed. "The nature of politics is you don't always get what you want. To paraphrase The Rolling Stones, 'you can't always get what you want, but you might just get what you need'."

Edgell and TakomaDogs donated about $10,000 in architectural services to the city. Edgell became so involved in the effort to bring a dog park to Takoma Park since he believes dogs are emotional creatures that need to socialize with other dogs.

He worked with Takoma Park resident Dr. Barbara Muhlbacher, who's an associate veterinarian at the Georgia Crossing Veterinary Center in Wheaton, to raise awareness of the importance of a dog park.

Edgell said him and Muhlbacher both have dogs, but had no where to bring them to socialize. Muhlbacher believes that the better socialized a dog is, the less aggressive they tend to be.

"We thought it was in the community's interest to have this dog park so dogs can be more properly socialized," Edgell said.

Together, Edgell and Muhlbacher led various fundraising events such as "Yappy Hours" and clean-up events.

Takoma Park residents can attend the Grand Opening of the dog park at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, April 2. Bring your dog, wear your TakomaDogs T-shirt and celebrate the opening. Check out the TakomaDogs website for more information here.

Photos: TakomaDogs