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: 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

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

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.

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!

Perfect weather, perfect crowd and the pups loved every minute. We had lots of wonderful donations from Paws and Claws, Monaghan’s-On-The-Hill, boarding from Kristina and from Citizen Canine and portraits by two dog park users, Kiki who does drawings and AGB Photographics offering photo portraits.

What a generous bunch of dog owners. We reached halfway to our goal of $5,000 for a new gate system with your cash and checks. Next summer we should be able to use the park almost every day when the new gate installed. We just have to keep fundraising so think about donations to ODOG as gifts to honor your nearest and dearest.  Now we have new doorprizetickets for the Raiders Home Opener this coming Sunday.

Silly contests with prizes donated from the above and Pet Food Express. Michelle won the owner/dog look alike with her crazy eye Border Collie act. That was memorable!

Lots of sniffing and human networking too! Saw some old friends and made some new one. What a great group of volunteers who put the party together and cleaned up afterwards so that they park was ready for concert patrons.