Scooby Dog Park almost completed

Mark DeLap
Posted 10/4/22

New Guernsey dog park

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Scooby Dog Park almost completed

Posted

GUERNSEY – Located in the "Old Timers" arena north of golf course, construction started about the middle of September on Scooby Park.

The project has been called the “Operation Scooby Dog Park.”

Brad Cook construction was contracted to do the fence portion of the project and in a few weeks, Guernsey’s first dog park will be ready accommodate local people’s pets.

“I hope to work with Economic development  to get two picnic tables and two dog waist stations,” said Guernsey councilman Kellie Augustyn.  “We trust that the responsible dog owners that use the park will clean up after their pets. I'm going to lean on the community here a bit to get some ideas on signage and funding for the signs. So any help from the public would be appreciated.”

Original funding was raised by Pam McClure with additional funds from Wyoming community gas the project team was able to put out the project for bid. Most of fencing materials were donated, according to Augustyn. 

“I believe it will be a welcome addition to the town and for tourists to exercise their pets,” he said.

The town of Guernsey may have lost revenue with the departure of some BNSF jobs, but there are certain projects in the community that continue to grow and ideas continue to come forth to add to the city. The dog park is one of those projects.

“I Went to the town about a dog park to see if they could donate the land for it,” Guernsey resident, Pamela McClure said. “They said it was OK to do that, so I had a piece of ground picked out, but they chose another area which is cool.”

The designated area is actually inside the Guernsey rodeo grounds. When you turn into the rodeo grounds it will be directly to the left.

“And then COVID hit,” she said. “And so when that happened, and I started doing the fundraising, I really don’t feel good about hitting up businesses that are already hurting. So I had to reevaluate the situation.”

McClure then took her cause to citizens that were interested in having a dog park. McClure calls it a little committee. They discussed objectives and the very fact that it needs to be obtainable.

“And to be obtainable during COVID, we decided to cut it back to an acre,” she said. “As it goes on, we can always expand it. We were hoping to have a dividing fence for little dogs and big dogs, and I’m cutting back on that right now and they will all just have to get along.”

The city has agreed to keep the area mowed, however the dog owners are responsible for cleaning up after their dogs. McClure said that they would like to have plastic bags on the premises for those owners that may forget to bring one.

“On the wish list is to have a water line brought in,” McClure said. “First, we build the house, and then we decorate. We just need to get the park finished and then we can add to it as we get the funding.”

By adding to it, McClure would eventually, besides have two dog areas, like to have an agility course inside the fencing and said that at some point it would be nice to have a trainer come in and utilize the space and perhaps offer dog training classes.

At this point, there is a question as to the dollar amounts the signage is going to cost. The park is in need of metal signage and that could be expensive.

In 2021 during Duck Daze, McClure organized a first Operation Scooby Pageant/Talent Show to help bring awareness for the cause that was going forth.