Warsaw In Contention For Dog Park Funding, Votes Needed
Posted
Daniel Riordan-driordan@timesuniononline.com
While Warsaw is known as the Orthopedic Capital of the World, a national contest may help the city become known as a dog park capital.
The “Bark For Your Park” contest sponsored by PetSafe recently announced 15 semi-finalists for its contest and Warsaw is one of them.
The winning city or town wins $100,000 toward building a local dog park.
The county currently doesn’t have a dog park.
Coinciding with the contest is the plans for Rudy’s Dog Park in Warsaw.
Johanne Touchette is the president of the board of directors for Rudy’s Dog Park, which is a 501-c-3 not-for-profit.
The park is scheduled to be built on 20 acres of land with a nearby animal hospital.
But fundraising still needs to be done to make it a reality.
According to Touchette, winning the contest would allow the park to be built immediately.
One feature of the park, along with exercise areas and plenty of room for dogs to roam, would be a pond.
A two-minute video is featured on the “Bark For Your Park” page dedicated to Warsaw.
There, people can vote for Warsaw. Warsaw is currently in seventh place.
People also can vote through PetSafe’s Facebook page. By voting at barkforyourpark.com for Warsaw, people are then directed to PetSafe’s Facebook page.
In the video, Touchette, along with several business and civic leaders like Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins, talk about what a dog park would mean to Warsaw and Kosciusko County.
One important reason for the dog park noted in the video is how it would help the socialization of dogs in the area.
Along with that, it’d also add another feature to the community, which would attract both new residents and visitors.
Touchette encouraged people to vote twice a day until the Aug. 3 deadline.
She said the last week of voting, the leaderboard isn’t shown so it’s important people remain enthusiastic about voting.
“It doesn’t matter if you live in Washington or Florida, we really need people to get out the vote for Warsaw,” said Touchette.
Warsaw is fighting an uphill battle as most of the cities in the top 15 are much larger than Warsaw.
But the amount of enthusiasm from different pet organizations in the area, as well as online support, has helped.
Touchette said it’s time for the whole city to get involved and help with organized online campaigns and efforts.
Warsaw’s Amy Ross entered Warsaw into the contest. Ross works at her family’s business, Ruff Inn Kennel & Pet Resort.
