43
AWL parks offer service, help animals
Photo
Kerry Pettit, director of operations at the Trumbull County Animal Welfare League, poses with Cinnamon, a 6-year-old boxer mix who is up for adoption, as she takes a break from playing in one of the Bark Parks.
vIENNA
Frisbee Field was empty Friday afternoon, an expanse of fenced green grass stretching out under the gray, gloomy sky.
Cinnamon and Harley stood at the edge, waiting, tails wagging, until two clicks, two slack leashes and they were free — stretching their legs over and over around the biggest of the Trumbull County Animal Welfare League’s three Bark Parks as a group of handlers watched with amusement.
It was chilly. Dogs don’t care. The grass was wet. So what, so were their noses.
The two shelter dogs, usually inside in their pens along with many others, were having a special treat, said Kerry Pettit, director of the shelter at 812 Youngstown Kingsville Road in Vienna.
They were chosen to show off the AWL’s membership-access Bark Parks, which debuted in June on the shelter’s property across the highway from the Squaw Creek Country Club.
Cinnamon, a 6-year-old boxer mix who came to the shelter two months ago with a litter of puppies, needs her own home now that her pups are all adopted, Pettit said.
She stalked and pounced on Harley, a 1-year-old boxer-pitbull mix, who thought she was great.
Harley has been through AWL’s prison training program, meaning he’s gotten extra training by living with an inmate for 10 weeks. He’s also housebroken and crate-trained.
Neither Harley nor Cinnamon would be demonstrating the park next to Frisbee Field — the Lil Pup Play Park. They both tip the scales past the 25-pound weight restriction.
No one was at the Lil Pup on Friday, and the weather the likely reason why. But across a pond that is next to the two parks and will soon have a dock for dogs who like to swim, Terry Taylor of Howland and her golden retriever Tia were making use of the third park. It’s called the Pupp Pupp. An old Putt Putt miniature golf course, it has hills and tunnels.
“We get out here at least once a week,” said Taylor.
She threw a ball. Tia ignored it and walked the other way.
“She’s a retriever that doesn’t retrieve,” Taylor said. “That’s what we work on out here.”
“You’ll get a cookie if you bring the ball back,” Taylor told the dog. “Go get it.”
Tia chased it, overran it, and gave up.
“She has a yard to run in, but she doesn’t,” said Taylor. “So here, she does. That’s good exercise.”
Pettit said that not only are the Bark Parks a safe place for play and exercise, but members are supporting animals at the shelter who need medical help.
The $240 annual membership benefits shelter animals 100 percent, she said. That includes heartworm treatments “to get those animals adopted,” she said, and after-hours emergency services with the police in the county.
Membership is for the calendar year. Potential members must fill out an application.
Members also have to show proof their dogs are current on vaccines.
“So that sets us apart from public parks, she said. “We aren’t putting each animal at risk.”
“Really,” she added, “Your membership is paying to help an animal. You could be helping to save a life.”