Tiny Paws – Big Play

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You to our volunteers!

We had a small but very robust volunteer crew this past week helping whip the gardens back into shape. We got a lot done, still more to do – but the front is looking fantastic. Wouldn’t happen without our volunteers.

We need your help. We hear there is some confusion about the Alternate area usage – so as a follow up to last week’s Member Mailer – we are sending the following to everyone so that we can make sure all members are on the same page. Please help us explain the protocol to members if while you are at the dog park you find anyone who seems to not know what to do. Thanks! 

Alternate Dog Park

The following is the pecking order for usage of the Alternate Dog Park – and this pecking order is in force round the clock. The exception is when we have an organized event – such as the ongoing Tiny Paws Big Play (TPBP) or one of our larger events, such as Season Kick-Off, Puppy Pool Party, Halloween/Fall Celebration. Everyone must abide by these rules. Please read them again. If someone is in Alternate when you arrive and you need to use the area – speak to the member (s) and work out a plan to either share the space or take turns. Communication is key because the conditions/needs change constantly. No one may monopolize the area.

• Small dogs, under 25 lbs
• Dogs recovering from surgery/injury (no parasites or contagious conditions), such as wearing a cone or having stitches healing, etc.
• Older dogs that no longer enjoy the robust play on the Main
• Dogs with a low-key personality or low-energy play style; or, shy and needing a place to build self-confidence
• Gathering a group of doggie friends from the Main playground and creating an impromptu play group in Alternate
• Using Alternate as a time-out or re-direction of energy; your dog got overly stimulated or got into a simple scuffle and needs a short break (dog fights and high level aggression situations require you to go home for the day)

NOTE: One of our little dogs was injured during a Tiny Paws Big Play session due to a larger dog coming into Alternate, sitting on the little guy, and hurting him. Come on, folks. This is not that difficult of a concept to grasp! Please respect the time slots designated for our little dogs: 

Tiny Paws Big Play is for dogs 25 lbs and under (no larger dogs allowed, period)

Tuesday and Thursday: 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Saturday and Sunday: 9:00am to 11:00am

We encourage our members with small dogs to take advantage of these time slots – it’s a wonderful way to connect with other small dogs and make new friends – and should be a time and place where you know the little ones own the space.

Membership Stat Update, as of 7/15/19

Households: 573
Dogs: 739
FOBs: 816

Upcoming News

Not much more to report this week, as we have a lot of things under development. Over the balance of the summer, we will be rolling out a major turf plan, the scope of where we are with volunteer needs and the future of the dog park, and a few more repair/renovation projects in the works. We are busy – even if you do not see activity every day.

Volunteer Needs

Immediate: We still need helpers to take down agility equipment Monday evening or early morning Tuesday and helpers to set back up Tuesday afternoon or evening.

Soon: If you have decent computer skills, an eye for detail, and are in strong support of our dog park – this might be just the task for you. An indoor task that you can do on your computer on your own time frame – but will require a commitment of 1-2 hours per day (it will fluctuate with heavy activity around season opening and then dwindling to slight activity later in the year).

We will soon be talking with potential volunteers to help with membership processing for next season. We need to select the volunteer this year so he/she can be involved with training on the new and improved process. The current process will be re-written in order to simplify the procedure from an administrative perspective. Without proper membership management – we have no dog park – so this volunteer segment is vital to SWCDP’s ongoing success. Please contact us if you think this is something you can do.

Arf, Arf