Bark if You Want a Dog Park!

Denver is definitely a city for the dogs! Many Denver residents have dogs, including students and their families living near Gilpin K-8.

During their community inventory, students in Mr. Jones’ Earth Force class realized there were a lot of dogs in the neighborhood, but no safe place for them to play. Although the nearby neighborhood park was a great place for dog owners to take their dogs on a leash, it provided no place for dogs to run and play with other dogs. Mr. Jones’ students were on a mission to change that!

The students called upon the local dog parks experts for help. Students contacted the Denver Dumb Friends League and Denver Parks and Recreation. To their surprise, the expert from Denver Dumb Friends League had actually created a dog park in his own neighborhood.

He walked the students through the process and advised them to talk to Denver Parks and Recreation, write up a petition, get signatures and propose the idea to their city council representative. The students did just that.

After hearing more about the process from a Denver Parks and Recreation employee, students decided to focus on writing a petition and researching about other dog parks and the materials needed to create one.

They collected over 50 signatures!