Trail in park to let dogs run free

By Ed Runyan

Dogs using the new trail must be capable of mixing safely with people and other animals.

AUSTINTOWN — On May 4, dog owners will have a new place to take their pets to run and play.

That’s the day the township’s new one-third-mile unleashed-dog trail will open to the public on the west side of the park, about a quarter-mile west of Pogany Pavilion.

Though it will be one of the only parks in the Mahoning Valley where dogs are allowed off their leash, it’s not really a new option for the park.

Joyce Gottron, township parks supervisor, says pet owners have been using parts of the park for unleashed play for quite some time, but the newly created “loop” trail will provide an especially designated area for it a distance away from the areas of the park most populated by people.

Mary Anne Coles of Austintown, who has exercised her dog at the park for many years, says dog owners have been careful to pick times and locations to walk their dogs there that avoid contact with lots of people.

Gottron agreed, saying few problems have occurred. Dog owners must keep complete control over their dogs while in the park, she added.

Gottron has been researching dog parks for about 18 months and concluded the township could not afford the more common fenced type of dog park found in many urban areas.

Instead, park employees cleared an area to the rear and east of Emmanuel Community Church in the western part of the park for a grassland trail for the dogs and their owners.

A fenced dog park would have cost around $50,000 to construct and additional amounts to maintain, Gottron said.

By contrast, the only cost to build Austintown’s dog park is the cost of having Don Hall Excavating of Austintown flatten and compact the dog trail area, Gottron added.

Township trustees approved paying $1,575 to the company to use a bulldozer and roller to flatten the new dog trail and a nearby soccer field.

Gottron said she is waiting for final word from Wal-Mart on whether a $2,500 grant from the company will be available to pay for the work.

On a recent afternoon, Vince Perry of Austintown brought his two Newfoundland dogs, an 18-month-old named Tank and an 11-year-old named Brinks, for a walk near Pogany Pavilion.

As Perry and the dogs took their regular trek, Perry explained he has found a part of the park where he can walk the dogs without their coming in contact with lots of people.

“The only problem with them [his dogs] is they will go up to people and slobber on them, and it [the slobber] is like wallpaper paste,” he said.

As a breed, Newfoundland dogs are gentle creatures, and his dogs are no exception, Perry said. Because of Brinks’ age, he is especially mild-mannered, Perry said.

Perry is convinced that the exercise he has provided for the dogs each day at home and at the park are what have kept Brinks alive so long. Many Newfoundland dogs (or Newfies) don’t live much past nine years, he noted.

The 206-acre township park, located on Kirk Road, already contains a variety of walking trails, most of them on grassland, though one has a clay base. Some people walk on the paved areas.

May 4 will be called Pets in the Park Day, and activities will be from 1 to 4 p.m. It will be co-sponsored by Trumbull County Animal Welfare League, which will receive the proceeds from the event that features games, displays, vendors, and animal agility demonstrations. The cost will be a $5 donation.

The only other nearby public area for dogs without leashes is Poland Municipal Forest in an area between Butler Trail and Interstate 680. Dogs in other forest areas must be on a leash.

Trumbull County commissioners and the county’s MetroParks board have applied for a state grant to pay for construction of a fenced dog park on park land at Clarence Darrow Park near the Kent State University Trumbull campus in Champion.

Jonathan Millea, a planner with the Trumbull County Planning Commission, said the county expects to hear in August whether the grant was approved. Construction is hoped for in 2009, Millea said. Its estimated cost is $34,500.

runyan@vindy.com