Leash Up Lubbock

By Blaine Hill

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Wilder walking his dog in Tech Terrace park. Blaine Hill/TheHub@TTU

There are 81 parks in Lubbock, Texas, but not one public park where dog owners can legally play fetch.

The director of Lubbock Parks and Recreation, Bridget Faulkenberry, said the city ordinance prohibiting off leash dogs is in place to protect people from unfriendly or aggressive dogs.

Three-quarters of a mile from William Wilder’s house in San Antonio, there’s a dog park where he takes his dog, Jackson. The senior finance major said it is frustrating that there is not some place like it in Lubbock.

“It’s fun to be here with dogs, but it’s not really ideal,” Wilder said.

Wilder said he wished there was a dog park in Lubbock because Jackson stays at home alone all day when Wilder is at class and does not really get the exercise he needs.

Graham Lavine, a senior agriculture economics major at Tech, has felt just as frustrated. He tries to take his dog, Callie, to the park whenever he can to play fetch, which is her favorite thing to do. But he worries because he knows it’s illegal to have a dog off the leash in Lubbock. Some of his friends have gotten tickets.

“Where I’m from, there are dog parks all around,” Lavine said. “Even in the neighborhoods, you can just bring your dogs everywhere.”

dog-parksClaire Criss, a senior public relations major from Dallas, said Lubbock should have a public park where owners can take their dogs to play.

“Honestly, there are so many students here who have a dog; it’s more important for them to have somewhere to go with them,” Criss said.

A few of the apartment complexes in Lubbock have private dog parks, but Criss said when she went to one, an employee at the complex threatened to call the police on her and her friends for trespassing.

Faulkenberry said the city is in favor of adding a dog park to Lubbock. The city submitted a capital improve request for a dog park, but it was not recommended for funding for the 2016-2017 year.

The city does have a possible donor that could be providing funds, but she said, “[t]hese things are still in the works.”

Criss and her father considered opening a dog park in Lubbock because of the need they saw here. They wanted to mix the dog-park atmosphere with the feel of an outdoor patio bar, but were unable to find a good and profitable space for the park.

“Parks and Rec is in support of us getting a dog park one way or the other, and we urge people to keep their dogs on leash at city parks until we get one,” Faulkenberry said.

 

About JOUR 4350

JOUR 4350 is the multiplatform news delivery class, which is the capstone class for journalism majors within the College of Media & Communication.