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PET
REPORTER
area will be dead,” the study reads.
City officials said they have listened to
dog park users and have come up with a
plan for a new dog area in a different part
of the park. The new design calls for 1/4
of an acre to 1/3 of an acre for a small dog
play area. The main dog park will be di
vided into two areas, which will be alter
nated every three to four months to allow
the land in one area to rest while the oth
er is in use.
“The overall acreage in the boundaries
of the new dog park will be similar in size
to the existing dog park, however the new
design incorporates a “small dog” park
area and a “large dog” park area, and also
allows for areas to be closed for recovery
and maintenance,” Mullen said.
Dog park users say the shade at the
current location is a large part of its ap
peal and something they feel simply can
not be replaced.
“The best part of the dog park is the
trees,” said Samantha Suggs, another reg
ular visitor. “I’d say it’s an easy 10-degree
difference, and just makes it so much nic
er for the dogs on those summer days.”
Sweezey said she doesn’t think the dog
parks’ opponents have taken the time to
look at all the positive things the park
brings to Dunwoody. Sweezey said the
Brook Run Dog Park has repeatedly been
named by publications such as Atlan
ta Magazine as the best dog park in the
city. She worries that by moving the dog
park, Dunwoody is squandering one of
its greatest assets.
“It gives a really positive image to
Dunwoody. People now know where
Dunwoody is because it’s the city that has
the best dog park,” Sweezey said.
The Brook Run Dog Park Association
holds monthly clean-up days, she said.
Sweezey updates a Facebook page for the
dog park and sends out newsletters. Re
cently, volunteers from the dog park col
lected 200 pounds of dog food to donate
to an animal shelter that was running low
on supplies, Sweezey said.
“It truly is a community. It’s a cli
che, but it really is,” Sweezey said. “The
bonds that have occurred out there over
the years are phenomenal.”
PHOTOS BY MELISSA WEINMAN
Samantha Suggs said her German
Shepherds enjoy being able
to run around in the shade
at Brook Run Dog Park.
There are dog parks in
several other parks around
metro Atlanta, including:
Morgan Falls Overlook Park
200 Morgan Falls Road
Sandy Springs, 30350
Keswick Park
3524 Keswick Drive
Chamblee, 30341
Piedmont Park
1320 Monroe Drive
Atlanta, 30309
Sweezey visits the park every day with
her dog, Bama. On a recent afternoon,
she walked around with a few plastic bags
in her pocket, stopping every so often to
pick up dog waste. She greeted a woman
and her daughter, walking their new pup
py through the park, and gave them her
business card. She told them to call her
if they had any questions about the dog
park or wanted advice on puppy-rearing.
Before long, two German Shepherds
came running into the park and Sweezey
greeted them enthusiastically. “At any
given time I can usually name most of the
dogs in the park,” Sweezey said.
Suggs, the German Shepherds’ owner,
said she’s met a lot of people at the dog
park, including Sweezey, who now baby
sits Suggs’ dogs when she’s out of town.
“People just come up and start talk
ing to you. You have your dogs in com
mon. It just opens up the conversation,”
Suggs said.
Lamont Robeson is another regular,
who comes with his Shar Pei, Maserati,
nearly every day. Robeson said before he
adopted him, Maserati was abused, and
it has taken a while for him to trust peo
ple again.
“Everybody’s really nice,” he said.
“This is a good place for him to be.”
For some, the dog park is more signif
icant than just a place to let their dogs
run around.
Gantt said her fiance, Bryan Rosen-
grant, proposed to her at the dog park in
March.
“We’ve lived up the street from the
park for about two years and we go to the
park almost every day,” Gantt said.
She said the dog park is a special place
for the couple. They spend about an hour
there each day sitting on the benches to
gether as their dogs run around and play.
But Gantt said she was “totally surprised”
when on one of these evening visits to the
dog park her boyfriend got down on one
knee, and pulled a diamond ring out his
pocket.
“He wanted to make sure it was at
the park so the whole family could be in
cluded, which I thought was adorable,”
Gantt said.
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www.ReporterNewspapers.netl JULY26—AUG.8, 2013 | 17
