September 7, 2007

Dog days of summer

Butcher Park goes to the dogs

By Carol Rosen
Editor

It was a beautiful day for walking your dog, but an even better day to let your dog run free in a play area designed just for that.

Everyone brought their dogs to the new Butcher Park Dog Park when it opened Aug. 4. Unfortunately, the dogs-who were ready to run and play-had to display their good manners awaiting the opening while the people who made the park possible spoke about it. Once the dogs got into the park, they ran and played.

On Aug. 4, about 100 dogs and their people gathered at Roy M. Butcher Park for the grand opening of the city’s newest dog park, which has been “more than four years in the making,” said Simeon Mercado, parks manager. Once it received approvals, it took about six months to build, he said.

The area is designed with dogs in mind. There is a double-gated entry with separate areas for large and small dogs. Designed to serve 30-50 dogs at one time, the larger number of dogs that came for the opening had plenty of room to run and to play.

Among the features is a special state-of-the-art artificial turf that will be hosed down daily by staff as well as decomposed granite surfaces. The turf is special athletic turf, that Mercado called the “Cadillac of turf.” Underground sprinkler systems rinse the turf regularly, “at least once per day,” he said.

Fountains for dogs to drink from appeared to also entice the dogs to play. There are benches for people to sit on, a community bulletin board and a small shed for staff and volunteers to store supplies. In addition, there are plastic bags and plenty of trashcans in which to toss rubbish and other items left by the dogs.

Participants get ready to cut the ribbon opening the park to the dogs and their people. On the left, holding the ribbon, is former Parks and Recreation Commissioner Helen Chapman with District 9 Council woman Judy Chirco holding the ceremonial scissors.

In order to get the park up and running, the city conducted community outreach and held several meetings to get approval for the location. The dog park itself is a consensus of both dog and local homeowners. While there is no lot for cars, there is adequate parking available around the perimeter of the park.

Since Cambrian is deficient in parkland, it took a while to find the best site for the park, officials said. Butcher Park, while heavily used, does have usable fields, and thus made the most sense for the dog area.

The dog park uses 0.75 acres of the 10-acre park. Jensen Corporation constructed the $566,333 project, which was funded by State Proposition 40 grant, Council District 9 Construction and Conveyance Tax funds and the city’s Park Trust funds.

The park is the seventh off-leash dog park in the San Jose area. Others include Jeffrey Fontana Park, Discovery or Delmas Dog Park, Ryland Park, Saratoga Creek Dog Park, Miyuki Park and Santa Clara County’s Los Gatos Creek Dog Park in Campbell.

On hand for the momentous occasion was former Parks and Recreation Commission President Helen Chapman, as well as Friends of Butcher Dog Park co-founder Amy Moody and District 9 Councilmember Judy Chirco.

The decision for largest dog came down to Samson, owned by Jim LaFrom of Cambrian and Tubuku, which means too big, owned by Sheryl and Jack Scheinberg, also from Cambrian Park. Samson, who weighs 155 pounds, was slightly larger than the 115-pound Tubuku.

After their speeches welcoming everyone and explaining how the park came to be, the dogs, who mostly behaved very well, finally got their wish and were let loose in the new area just for dogs.

The dogs expressed their joy by running and playing, some wrestling and some tussling. Several little dogs entered the big dog area and proceeded to tease their larger brothers and sisters. But all was in good fun and the dogs appeared to have as good a time as the people watching them.

The final activity was a contest for the best dressed, largest, cutest, ugliest and so forth dogs. Nearly everyone went home a winner.

The opening was also different in that there were refreshments for the people and for the dogs. Chirco’s office provided juice, water and cookies while Big E Café on Branham Lane offered coffee. And Anna LaFrom—owner of two Bermese mountain dogs—who works for Intero Real Estate Services, offered goodie bags for the dogs and their people.