By Marie Abramova
Special to The Laker/Lutz News
Sam and Chad raced across the pasture of My Dog’s Diggin’ Dog Park, without an apparent care in the world.
The rat terrier and Labrador mix seemed to be enjoying their freedom without leashes in the hot, humid weather on this Sunday afternoon, as their owners chatted in the shade and kept a close eye on their pets.
The dog park, at Price Park on Meridian Avenue and 12th Street in Dade City, features an open grassy area, enclosed by a black metal fence. It has a bright red fire hydrant, several black wooden tables and matching benches, and a small water spigot where dogs can get a drink. It is next to a large playground and two tennis courts.
The dog park, which is the first of its kind in Dade City, opened on May 9.
The demand for a dog park became evident during the annual Dade City dog events that took place at Agnes Lamb Park for the last three years in March. Local residents would come with their dogs for dog parades, costume contests, talent shows and other fun activities.
“During this event, we heard people talking about: ‘We need a dog park here in Dade City. We never had one,’ ” said Lucy Avila, a dog event organizer who was instrumental in getting the dog park built.
Avila said the dog park is a vital necessity for the community because a safe fenced-in area makes it easy for dogs to run freely without getting hurt by cars. The residential area around the dog park also contains many apartment complexes that have limited space and no yards. Dog parks also offer a way for dog owners to get to know each other, while spending quality time with their pets.
It took about 2 1/2 years for Avila, Mayor Camille Hernandez and other local officials to plan the dog park and to get it up and running.
Avila, however, doesn’t intend to stop there. She wants to get additional equipment, such as tunnels, poles and dog bone-shaped benches for the dog park, to create a playground of sorts. The goal is to make the park as dog friendly as possible.
Joseph Cillo and his wife, Spoon, brought their rat terrier, Sam, to the dog park, and their neighbors, Jerry and Loey Grader, accompanied them with Labrador mix, Chad. The couples sat together, maintaining a steady stream of light-hearted conversation under a large oak tree, as their dogs nibbled on grass and sprinted, exploring the grassy terrain for the first time.
Sam and Chad’s lives, however, weren’t always so pleasant.
Sam is an acronym for Sour Apple Martini.
“We were at a restaurant in Tampa,” Joseph Cillo said. “I had had one or two – maybe three sour apple martinis. And there was a pet store next door, and I walked in.”
Cillo took an immediate liking to the rat terrier and bought him for half of the initial asking price of $1,000. But at that moment, Cillo didn’t know Sam had a massive lung infection and would have been put to sleep at a puppy mill the very next day because no one wanted to pay for his $800 medication.
When Cillo learned of this, he demanded his $500 back.
“They gave me my money back, and (Sam) became my best friend,” Cillo said. “But he lost 20 percent of his lung capacity.”
Now, every time Sam runs and plays at the dog park – or anywhere else – he’s out of breath. Still, Cillo thinks of Sam as “not a dog, but a little man.”
Loey and Jerry Grader share Cillo’s fondness for canines and felt a major loss when the dog they owned before Chad passed away. The couple resolved to never get another dog again, but every night, Loey would visit websites like petfinder.com and labradorrescue.net, where she eventually found a picture of Chad.
“He had been previously in northern Florida, where he was just roaming free, and someone tied him up to a shelter,” Loey said. “You can see his leg is all damaged and his ears, and that’s from being caught in barbed wire.”
Chad stayed with a woman in New Port Richey who cared temporarily for 12 homeless lab mixes before he found a stable home with the Graders in Dade City.
It might have been Chad’s first time at the dog park, but he goes on two- to seven-mile walks with Jerry about three times a day every day. Cillo and Jerry also walked the dogs to a wide open field in Lake Jovita, where they live, three or four times a week. There, the dogs can roam, lie on the grass and watch a nesting pair of bald eagles.
“They’re a major source of love, affection and family,” Cillo said of the dogs.
Debra Piankowski and her two children, Joshua, 11 and Sarah, 8, also brought their two fluffy black Pomeranians to the dog park. Little Bit and Abigail are brother and sister who’re very close to each other.
They’re two of five siblings from a purely white father and completely black mother. Debra said that out of the five puppies, Little Bit and Abigail always worked, ate, played and stayed together.
“The other three never even went around them,” she said. “These two have a bond, so I bought them together.”
Now Joshua cares for Little Bit and Sarah for Abigail. Joshua chased the two dogs around the park, and the two dogs chased each other, stopping only to drink water from the spigot next to the entrance by the side of the fence.
Safety was an important concern with the Dade City residents. The fence lessened any anxiety that children and dogs might get hurt, and the dog park generally seemed like a calm quiet area to meet and mingle without the dogs running off and getting lost.
Other public Pasco and Hillsborough dog parks include:
–Land O’ Lakes Recreation Complex 3032 Collier Parkway in Land O’ Lakes.
–Meadowood Paw Park – Meadowood Loop and Alston Avenue in Zephyrhills
–Carolyn Meeker Dog Park, 122 First Ave. S.W., Lutz, FL 33548
