MyWalkies, a private dog park in DeWinton, was granted a four-month extension on June 5 to its one-year trial period by Foothills County Council, awaiting a public meeting in the fall preceding a decision on the development permit.
MyWalkies opened its gates a year ago to offer dog owners in the surrounding area a place to exercise their pets without the stress that can be experienced at public off-leash parks.
“It’s a private off-leash dog park, and it’s for people who either don’t like the public off-leash dog parks, or for people who can’t take their dogs there,” said Denise Fernandes, owner of MyWalkies.
Going to public off-leash parks become stressful for the Fernandes after their dog Spirit, who passed away recently at 16 years old, was attacked at a dog park and needed immediate life-saving surgery and an additional two surgeries to survive.
“We used to go to the public parks, but it was like walking on eggshells, hoping and wishing nothing happens to my dog when we get there,” said Fernandes.
Irresponsible pet owners and poorly socialized dogs can lead to stress for owners when visiting parks, said Fernandes.
She said the mentality of “my dog can do whatever it wants because it’s an off-leash dog park” was the driving force behind opening MyWalkies.
After moving to the Foothills five years ago from Calgary, Fernandes and her husband Robin thought maybe other people were having the same troubles, and decided to give a private off-leash dog park a try.
As it turned out, they weren’t alone.
The original permit allowed for 10 appointments a day, and Fernandes said they are usually booked up during the warm weather months. They also offer group-walks for friends, neighbours or families to bring up their dogs to play together.
Fernandes said a lot of the people who bring their dogs to MyWalkies are foster homes, as rescue animals are often at risk of flight if taken to public off-leash dog parks.
MyWalkies offers rescues, fearful, or potentially aggressive dogs the opportunity to run and play in a controlled environment, as well as people with well-behaved or submissive animals who are wary of other aggressive dogs in public off-leash parks.
Following a complaint by a neighbour regarding the operation of the dog park and several letters of support from the community and patrons of the park, MyWalkies entered the June 5 council meeting in a state of limbo, with the 12-month trial development permit set to expire this month.
The neighbour’s complaint alleged that the park stressed their dog from all the barking, impacted the family’s ability to enjoy its property and clients of the park affect safety in the community regarding rural crime.
Fernandes refuted these claims, saying their clients’ dogs rarely bark, and have taken measures to limit traffic in front of the neighbour’s property.
Letters submitted to council in support of the dog park allege the aggressive behaviour and barking comes from the neighbour’s dog.
With the questions surrounding the functioning of the dog park and potential solutions offered by the Fernandes, Foothills County council chose to delay further action through extending the development permit.
“(MyWalkies is) allowed to continue under their existing development permit, which was granted for a one-year time period initially, so they would have expired this month,” said Heather Hemingway, director of planning for Foothills County. “But council has allowed them to go for four months until the end of September of this year under their existing development permit, so same conditions and same standards.”
With the adjustments the Fernandes asked for in their proposal to address their neighbour’s concerns—such as a six-foot no-transparency fence to discourage barking or interaction with the neighbour’s dog—council voted in favour of extending the permit until after the summer council break so that a public meeting could be held, as opposed to shutting the door on the operation.
“Council has asked that we set up a public meeting (a non-statutory public hearing) for early in September as the applicants have requested an amendment to their development permit,” said Hemingway.
“So as opposed to it just expiring and dealing with a new development permit, council wants to have a public meeting to allow the applicants to speak to council about it, and allow the community to speak to council about it.”
Council did request MyWalkies close on weekends to accommodate the concerns of the neighbour. However that stipulation was not part of the original development permit and therefore is not a requirement for further operation during the four-month extension, said Hemingway.
Fernandes has chosen to accommodate the wishes of council, and has changed its hours to be open Monday-Friday until 9 p.m., reversing Fernandes’s original decision to close at 7:30 p.m. to appease her neighbour. With the request of council to not open on weekends, Fernandes said had to revert back to the 9 p.m. closing time to accommodate clientele who work 9-5 jobs.
Should they get approval for MyWalkies in September, Fernandes said they plan to install the no-transparency fence, expand the agility equipment in the park and set up portable bathroom facilities.
Depending on the success of the DeWinton operation, Fernandes said they are considering purchasing land north west of Calgary, near Calaway Park, to open a second private dog-park with the same features.
