San Angelo Dog Park Shy of $75,000 Donation Goal

Megan Allgeiers began her quest for a dog park in San Angelo in March 2014 when she decided to take on the project as her Girl Scout Gold Project. Megan presented her proposal to the city council, and started the ball rolling in what will be the first dog park in town.

Initially, Megan wanted the project to be completed before the end of 2014, as she told LIVE! in an interview. “It might take until the end of the year, but I would really like to see it open when the weather is still nice,” she said.

Megan went away to college in the fall last year, but before she left, Ami Mizell-Flint, her mentor, promised her and the Girl Scout Gold Award committee that she would make sure the progress continued. True to her word, Mizell-Flint has done just that, but needs extra help to complete Megan’s goal for furry friends.

 “I have been trying to secure further donations," she said. "Last March the council said that we needed $75,000 of funds raised, and then once we secured those funds, we could go back to them and then they would vote on whether or not we can proceed with the dog park. So far, $45,000 has been raised in donations and $15,000 in pledges, so we are $15,000 away from our goal.”

Mizell-Flint discovered a contest sponsored by Pet Safe called Bark for Your Park.  The contest launched on May 13 and runs through June 10. One $100,000 grand prize will be awarded to the community with the most votes, and four finalists will be awarded $25,000 each to build an off-leash dog park. Population size and total number of votes will be used to select 15 finalist communities, which will be announced on June 17. Pet Safe is an industry leader in the development of pet behavioral, containment and lifestyle product solutions.

There have been two proposed locations for the dog park, at College Hills and Millbrook. Last year in initial discussions the cost of the park was estimated to be somewhere between $50,000 and $150,000 with annual maintenance at around $10,000.

“We have been talking about some different ideas for the park, but I don’t believe that there is an actual blueprint done yet,” Mizell-Flint says. “I know that the dog park will be divided into two sections; there will be a big and small dog park to accommodate for Chihuahuas to German Shepards. There will be a walkway in between the two and there will be a double gate so that if someone comes in there’s not a dog running out.”

“The most important thing really is that it is going to be the first dog park in San Angelo,” she said. “The good thing about that dog park is that it’s good for the dogs to get out and socialize, but while the dogs are socializing it’s great for the people to get to know other dog owners as well, so it’s good for everybody involved. Hopefully this will be the first of several dog parks in San Angelo; we really need a place like this for our furry friends to have somewhere to go.”

If you would like to cast a vote for San Angelo, visit the Bark for Your Park website. You can also vote from the Facebook page, Bark for Your Park 2015. Votes from the Facebook page do not count from mobile devices, so make sure to vote from your personal computer. You can vote twice daily, once from each site. So far San Angelo has almost 200 votes, which is about 1,800 shy of what it takes to enter into the finalist's round of voting beginning June 17.