Dog park prepares for next week’s opening
A dedication ceremony for Aiken’s first dog park will be held next Saturday at 10 a.m.
The dog park is a joint project of the City of Aiken and Aiken Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It is located at 199 Willow Run Road, behind the Willow Run Industrial Park.
The City has put about $30,000 into the park, which has been set aside to pay for the cost of the fencing. Aiken SPCA has also invested about $30,000 into the project. Money is also being donated to the park by a local family in celebration on their parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.
Both big and small dogs are welcome at the pet playground. The facility will have a specific area for large dogs and a place for smaller dogs. It will also include a common area where any dog can roam free.
Officials with the park said it will also include a square, 30-foot by 30-foot splash pool. The pool will be 10 inches deep and will resemble a ground-level swimming pool. The splash pool will cost about $16,000. Pet owners will be required to register their dogs with the SPCA or the City of Aiken Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism before they are able to bring them to the facility.
The dog park will be located next to the future home of the Aiken SPCA facility. Aiken SPCA officials are planning for construction of the shelter to begin a the end of the year.
The 20,000-square-foot facility will have the capacity to house 140 dogs and cats and will average 700 adoptions per year. It will include space for the City’s Animal Control, a regional spay and neuter clinic that would serve the City, County and other neighboring communities and an education and training facility for residents and their pets.
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SPCA nixes 2009 Westmuttster show
Westmuttster, the Aiken SPCA’s annual dog show fundraiser, has been canceled this year.
SPCA Executive Director Gary Willoughby said he and the board of directors hated to call off the event this year but decided the planning process would be too overwhelming in the midst of everything else the nonprofit organization is taking on.
“There is so much that goes into that,” Willoughby said. “It takes so much time and so many committees. We believe it is better to cancel than to have a negative show.”
The SPCA is in the middle of a capital campaign to raise several million dollars for its new facility off Willow Run Road, planning the Dec. 12 opening of its dog park and had recently held its Fur Ball.
“Taking on another thing would just be too much,” Willoughby said.
Westmuttster is scheduled to return November 2010.
The popular dog show featured shelter mutts and purebreds going nose-to-nose in categories such as Prettiest Eyes, Best Tail Wagger, So Ugly It’s Cute and Grandparents and Granddogs.
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Dog park should open this year; splash park may take a few years
As for the City’s dog park, Parker said officials are looking at late summer to early fall to open the canine playground.
The 2.3-acre dog park will be located on Willow Run Road, where the new Aiken County SPCA facility will be built.
Parker said the City recently began the bid process to have a fence installed around the park area.
The dog park will have a specific area for large dogs and a place for smaller dogs, said Parker. The facility will also include a common area where any dog can roam free.
Access to the park will be free for pet owners. All dogs that enter the park will have to be vaccinated, and there will be a registration process.
Aggressive dogs will not be allowed at the dog park.
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