On November 6, Niverville opened the gates on its newly upgraded community off-leash dog park, much to the enjoyment of both its two-legged and four-legged patrons.
“The dog park is done for now and we are open,” says Warren Britton, the town’s recreation facility manager. “One thing to take note of. Although it does drain much better than the previous park, the freeze-thaw we have been experiencing lately will leave it a little wet and mucky.”
The park area borders the west side of the Niverville Curling Club, located next to the CRRC. There are gates to the fenced-in area located at both the west side of the park and the main entrance, which is immediately in front of the curling club.
The plot of land was once a baseball diamond, which was unneeded and largely unusable after the construction of the CRRC and its parking lot.
The new park sees the space expanded by more than 50 percent and features segregated small- and large-dog areas, fresh sod, grading and drainage, hills, agility equipment, benches, dog poop bag dispensers, and garbage receptacles.
Britton also says that the plan is to add more trees, as well as regrade some of the small dog area.
The town has supported the venture’s creation and committed to its maintenance, while community members also made major contributions.
Barry Piasta is one such enthusiast and community advocate. Piasta volunteered his time to coordinate the Friends of Niverville Dog Park Facebook group and fundraising initiatives such as pet photo session, “Starbarks” coffee sales, and dog adoptions.
“The town has really stepped up on this, which is good,” says Piasta. “And it is popular. We used to get people coming out to use it from other communities as well and other communities are now studying what we are doing.”
Piasta says that representatives from Winnipeg as well as Morris have visited the area to observe how the park has been organized. Various dog clubs have also been able to come and use the space.
“Winnipeg Dog Park Tour came out here with about 100 people and maybe over 50 dogs out here, and their members had some come all the way from Thompson,” he adds. “It’s great to see them gather in a community like ours. I don’t know if we still are, but at the time when we started it this was the largest fenced-in dog park in Manitoba and it’s the only one with this kind of equipment.”
Piasta says that the park wouldn’t have been possible without the entire community’s help, including Guy Britten (owner of RuffMutts), a local welders union, and painters who contributed their skills to create the equipment.
“I will continue to fundraise for it,” Piasta says. “We’re not done yet. The next step is trees, of course.”
With the mild fall weather, more and more dog owners have been coming by.
Kelvin Cech, head coach for the Niverville Nighthawks, uses the park regularly with his dogs, Rebis and Dasher.
“I’m still fairly new-ish to town, having moved here to coach the hockey team,” said Cech. “I didn’t come use it when it was smaller, because it was pretty small and muddy and there were always dogs in it. But now, I can just come from practice. To be able to take the dogs and just be able to rip around for like 15 minutes is incredible. What an awesome thing to have.”
Cech, who moved here from B.C., has seen firsthand how the community rallies around important causes—and that community spirit extends right down to the town’s smallest, furriest residents.
“I’m not from here and the funny thing is when my family asks me what it’s like to live here, this is the stuff that I talk about,” Cech says. “Because my dogs are my life. Hockey is not my whole entire life, surprisingly enough. I do have a personal life and my whole personal life is the dogs. For the town to get behind something like this, yes, it costs money to build and maintain, but it’s an absolute no-brainer. It makes a lot of difference. It makes my life so much better.”
Cech can tell that his two medium-sized whippets look forward to the time they spend at the park. The dogs are known for their quiet disposition, intelligence, and speed; they’re capable of reaching speeds up to 35 miles per hour.
“They love it. My older guy doesn’t run a ton anymore, but it’s nice to just let them off. The younger guy will rip around here and you can’t do that just walking around town. I’m not fast enough to keep up with them. It’s a game-changer.”
