Gate entrance to the first dog park in Wausau located on downtown 4th St. MWC photo by Mike Leischner.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — Wausau’s long-awaited dog park is not living up to the standards of some dog owners, and it has nothing to do with the amenities or offerings in the park.
It’s the fence around it.
The gap between slats at the Two Hearts Dog Park sits at just under four inches wide, which is just enough for a small dog to squeeze through. That has some dog owners asking the city to take some action to keep all users safe, especially with a busy street and dog training school nearby.
“My first thought was absolutely the road right there. I thought you know, my dog is still kind of a puppy yet and we try to work on the recall which is why we got to the dog park and my first concern was the cars going by on the road. Also the Bark Academy is right next door so she can hear the dogs barking at the park so I didn’t know which one she would run for, but either way I thought she was gone forever,” said April Ladenthin of Wausau.
Solutions could be coming, whether it’s adding extra slats to close the gaps or mesh to cover the bottom few feet of the fence.
“Anytime you open a new park or facility whether it’s a store or a park or whatever there are going to be some things to work out,” said Wausau District 1 Alder and chair of the city’s Parks and Recreation Committee Pat Peckham.
City officials say they want dog owners to enjoy the new park and to keep coming back.
“I say don’t panic, you know it’s a brand new facility, it’s been here a couple of weeks. June is a very busy time for the park department, they didn’t get to it yet, they’re going to get to it,” Peckham said.
Until the fence gets fixed, Ladenthin says she’ll wait. “Unless I felt totally safe with the fence situation and I don’t know how they would remedy that, but if they did I would totally go back,” she said.
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