Email the city your support for the Lakeview Dog Play Area!
The Lakeview Dog Play Area needs your support. Send an email in the next 24 hours to convince the city that dog owners deserve space in this neighborhood. We’ve made it extremely simple to send a note of support with our form letter. You can use it as-is, or use our talking point to write your own letter.
Talking Points:
- Dog play area provides social space for people with dogs.
- Dog play area approved in Lake Merritt Master Plan and by the Parks Commission (2006 and 2010).
- Proposed plan gives us a legal space to go with our dogs.
- This busy neighborhood needs this amenity so we don’t have to drive to Alameda and Berkeley every day.
- The multi-use park has room for dogs, kids, soccer and more.
Map of the proposed dog play area. Click to enlarge
Regional Parks Clamping Down
We met with the East Bay Regional Parks and learned about proposed changes that will curtail dog owner access to off leash areas in Tilden, Redwood, Dunn Trail, Leona and parks throughout the park district.
- The first 200 feet (or is it yards) of trail heads will be leash required. They think this will help with the poop pick up problem.
- The Serpentine Prairie will become leash required. There have been two serious horse accidents caused by dogs off leash and the riders have petitioned the park for this change. The Serpentine Prairie is also known at the Training Center, 11500 Skyline and the Dunn Trail. This is the area that was fenced off two years ago, forcing the dogs and horses onto the same narrow trails.
- Professional dog walkers will be restricted from some of their current trails and might be routed to other trails. With a finite number of trails and and increasing human and dog population we don’t see how this can work.
Lake Merritt Dog Park Update, Karin Hogan Memorial
Lake Merritt Dog Park Update: We Need Letters
The next step in getting our proposed dog park near Lake Merritt built is to get it approved by the Oakland Planning Commission. Opponents to the park have been sending emails to the Commission, and we need to make sure our voice is heard! Please send emails supporting this project to Ann Clevenger at aclevenger@oaklandnet.com, and CC: odogparks@comcast.net
Karin Hogan
Memorial Service for Karin Hogan
Sadly, longtime user of the dog park at Joaquin Miller Park, Karin Hogan (who’s dog is Layla) passed away in November. Her friends from the dog park are having a memorial service for her at the dog park on Sunday, January 8th at 10 am. Karin’s mom will be coming out from Maine for the service, and would like to meet her dog park friends. If you want to send a note to Karin’s mom, please send it to odogparks@comcast.net
Santa Paws is Coming to Town!
We’re all very excited about our next fun event: Santa Paws. It’s our fourth annual, and it’s always a great time. It’s being held at local Oakland institution, Sarber’s Cameras in the Montclair District. Bring your pups, and bring your kids to sit on Santa’s lap and get a photo! We’ll have some additional surprises, too.
Sarber’s is family-owned and has been serving the community for over 50 years! Come down and support ODOG and this wonderful community-minded shop.
EVENT DETAILS:
DATE: Sunday, December 11
TIME: 11 am – 3 pm
LOCATION: Sarber’s Cameras, 1958 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. MAP IT
PRICE: $30 for one 5″x7″ print. Additional prints extra.
Help Create Equitable Access for Dogs in Oakland Parks
“We’ve seen how these (dog) parks make a community great for people AND pets… It makes an area more attractive for visitors and new residents… The best moments of your life are measured in dog years.”
We missed the deadline for Bark for your Park this year (congratulations to Huntington, WV on winning this year!) But you can still help us in our mission to make space in our parks for our dogs. Currently, it’s illegal to bring a dog to any of the parkland near Lake Merritt (even on leash). We’ve been working for over ten years on the project at Lakeview Park. It would take up only one tenth of one percent of the parkland near the lake. It’s been approved by city agencies several times, and is included in the Lake Merritt Master Plan. But, we need your support.
Easy Ways You Can Help Get this Park Built
- Join the movement on Facebook to finally build this park.
- Visit the website, get informed, and spread the word to your friends and neighbors.
- Volunteer by sending an email to Lakeviewdog@gmail.com
Big Weekend!
FRIDAY, OCT 28, 6-9 pm: We’ve got a great fundraiser this Friday at 6 pm: The 8th Annual Paws & Claws Pet Parade and Costume Party. Paws & Claws, in Oakland’s Dimond district has been a huge supporter of ODOG, Lakeview Dog Play Area, and the greater Oakland community for years! This event is their eight annual, and each year it gets better and better. Come on down! More info.
SATURDAY, OCT 29, 9 am – noon: Paws to Prune: Join our monthly work day at the lake. We go out and prune, deadhead, weed, spread wood chips. It turns out to be a fun time, a good workout, and it really keeps our city and lovely lake beautiful. More information here
Deadline Tonight: Dog Costume Photo Contest!
Get those photos in by midnight for a chance to win a gift certificate to Paws & Claws!!
Pre-Howl-O-Ween Fundraiser DOG COSTUME PHOTO CONTEST!!
TO ENTER: post a picture on the facebook wall of Lakeview Dog Play Area of your dog in costume
PRIZES: $10 gift certificate to PAWS AND CLAWS pet store (sponsor of our fundraiser on 10/28); and your pic gets to be on Lakeview Dog’s marquee (under the logo).
EXTRA POINTS: caption your pic with your dog’s name. You can also mention why this off-leash area would be important to you.
DEADLINE: Tonight at midnight pacific.
JUDGES: Michelle Dong, Terry Boom, and Paul Vidican.
Some Spooky Fun (and prizes!)
Pre-Howl-O-Ween Fundraiser
DOG COSTUME PHOTO CONTEST!!
TO ENTER: post a picture on the facebook wall of Lakeview Dog Play Area of your dog in costume
PRIZES: $10 gift certificate to PAWS AND CLAWS pet store (sponsor of our fundraiser on 10/28); and your pic gets to be on Lakeview Dog’s marquee (under the logo).
EXTRA POINTS: caption your pic with your dog’s name. You can also mention why this off-leash area would be important to you.
DEADLINE: Wed., Oct 19th at midnight pacific.
JUDGES: Michelle Dong, Terry Boom, and Paul Vidican.
BACKGROUND ON THE LAKEVIEW DOG PLAY AREA PROJECT
Were you aware that if one of your dog’s paws touches grass in most of Oakland’s parks, you could get a ticket?
For more than ten years, a committed group of canine loving volunteers has been going through Oakland’s byzantine system to build an off-leash area for neighbors near Lake Merritt, in a largely UNUSED spot by I-580. It’s been approved several times by Oakland city departments, and was included in the Adams Point Urban Design Plan and the Lake Merritt Master Plan. It would be used daily by nearby residents, many of whom are elderly and without access to any place to socialize with their companion animals and other like-minded people. The plan would also add year-round flowers and several trees to what is now a patchy yellowish lawn.
Recently, a small but very vocal group has stepped up to oppose this much-needed amenity. They are claiming it will be an eyesore, an unattractive place, unsafe for children … they are using every scare tactic to whip up fear and make this fall through, We need your help to make this park a reality!
EASY WAYS YOU CAN HELP:
Join the Facebook page for this project. There’s strength in numbers, and more supporters sends a message to City Hall.
Visit the website for this project, get informed, and spread the word to your friends and neighbors.
Blessing of the Animals on Sunday
This Sunday, October 9th, Skyline Community Church in Oakland is having its annual Blessing of the Animals. Register at 2:45 pm. Afterwards, you can walk the labyrinth with your companion animal.
More information at their website.
Lucky Winner!
Kathleen Burke won the Raiders Tickets in our raffle to help get new gates at Joaquin Miller Park! (You can still enter to win Warriors tickets). Here’s Kathleen’s note she sent us after the game:
We won the Raiders tickets! Glad to help with raising funds for a new gate at the Joaquin Miller dog park. The game was awesome — and we won! We had fantastic seats in the Club section…fans and atmosphere were lively and fun. In addition, I met a former Raiders player and guess what? he let me wear his Superbowl ring! (see photo). Oakland native Jeff Barnes, former linebacker, has two Superbowl rings as a Raider (1981 and 1983). Our dogs, Brandy and Bella, had to stay at home…but we told them all about the game when we got home. Thanks so much, Oakland Dog Owners Group, for all the work you do for Oakland dogs (and owners).
And, don’t forget, we’ve got another fundraiser coming up, sponsored by Paws & Claws pet store in the Dimond district. They’re having their 8th annual Howl-O-Ween Pet Parade and Costume Party, October 28th at 6 pm. Get those costumes ready!
