Mimi Duvall-Sajda’s family lived through the pandemic in New York City. When their oldest child was on the cusp of middle school, with changes happening in their neighborhood and schools, they opted for a lifestyle change.
Westport offered proximity to the city, she says, “with beautiful surroundings, top-notch schools, and a tight-knit community.” They moved here in August 2022.
Mimi is a designer/artist and life coach. She is also a dog lover. She writes to “06880”:
As a still-new resident of Westport and a dedicated dog owner (we have 2 cavaliers), I realize our wonderful community is missing one crucial element: a dedicated, fully enclosed space for dogs to run and play off-leash.
It’s time for Westport to have a dog run.
I believe it would be a huge boon for several reasons.
Currently, many dog owners in Westport make do keeping our beloved canine companions on a leash, or traveling to neighboring towns with dog runs.
While some consider Winslow Park to be dog-friendly, the lack of an enclosed space for pups to run freely excludes a significant portion of the Westport canine population.
Fences have not prevented tragedies at Winslow Park. (Photo/Mark Mathias)
Dogs need to run for their health and well-being. It’s heartbreaking to see them confined to leash-walking, as owners try to avoid repeating tragedies on Compo North and Post Road ast.
An October 2022 petition made clear that at least 1,000 Westport dog owners are clamoring for a safe, enclosed dog run.
The absence of a safe, fully enclosed space not only inconveniences us as residents, but also limits our dogs’ opportunities for physical activity and socialization.
Enclosed dog run.
A dedicated dog run would provide a secure environment for exercise and socialization, ultimately contributing to the overall well-being of our community.
I believe now is the time for Westport to consider the numerous advantages a designated area would bring, and take the necessary steps to make this vision a reality.
Probably the easiest, no-brained placement would be Winslow Park along Compo Road North, where the sewer work and fencing was done. The Representative Town Meeting or Parks & Recreation Department may have other ideas, however.
Winslow Park (bottom half of photo).
From a community perspective, a well-designed dog run can have positive social and economic impacts. Dog owners are more likely to frequent local establishments and outdoor spaces when they have a safe and enjoyable place to take their pets for exercise and socialization.
This increased foot traffic can benefit local businesses, and contribute to a vibrant and active community.
Moreover, a dog run can foster a stronger sense of community among dog owners. It provides a shared space where individuals with a common interest in pet ownership can come together, share experiences and build connections.
This sense of community not only benefits the dog owners themselves but also contributes to the overall social fabric of the town.
This enclosed dog run includes amenities.
Local authorities and community leaders should consider the numerous advantages a dog run would bring to Westport, and take the necessary steps to make this vision a reality. It’s time for our 4-legged residents and their dedicated owners to see a well-maintained dog run.
By providing a secure space for dogs to exercise and socialize, complete with separate areas, essential amenities and vaccination requirements, a dog run (possibly named “Winnie’s Run,” after a dog that was killed on the road) would become a valuable asset that enhances the quality of life for both dogs and their human companions.
(“06880” frequently publishes opinion pieces by local residents. It’s part of our mission as Westport’s hyper-local blog. To support our work, please click here. Thank you!)
Winslow is a wonderful place to have to go with your dog as it is now. Not many towns in Connecticut have such an accessible off-leash area. I go almost every day with my older dogs.
Smaller, fenced in dog parks are a necessary evil in urban areas, but I absolutely do no understand why the town would want to fence off a small part of Winslow, which is already an off-leash area. Fenced dog parks are well known to be terrible for dogs and their owners. The Association of Professional Dog Trainers has a great statement outlining all the problems with fenced dog parks. I would encourage dog owners who are unsure about it to speak to their vets and reputable dog trainers.
In addition, there is simply no reason why in 2024 that you can’t have reliable recall with your dog. I would encourage less experienced dog owners to take a look at Dr. Ian Dunbar’s great videos and courses on positive reinforcement dog training. Of course, certain high prey-drive breed like my Husky and Weimaraner require an e-collar when younger. There are so many great trainers around if you’re not sure how to do it.
Dog parks are very expensive to build and maintain, and will get disgusting in the winter when the water gets shut off. They breed disease and sickness, even when maintained.
This is not going to protect anyone’s dog, just the opposite, in fact. Novice owners will bring in their completely untrained and unsocialized dogs and fights will happen. It’s an idea that’s about twenty years out of date. Winslow is fine, it’s the owners that need to be more responsible.
This opinion introduces issues that are quite questionable.
Most importantly it ignores the fact that many senior dog
owners need to bring their dog to a place where it can run
truly safely and provides for a place for them to sit and socialize with others. The benefits are not just for the dogs. There are
senior voters that care.
While there are lots of owners who need to be more responsible sadly they can’t get off their multi tasking and get off cell phones to keep a close eye on their dogs. Dogs die in the parking lot because of this type of self centered behavior
So many of us will benefit from an enclosed area ( like Ridgefield). Many of us crave a section of Compo for our dogs during summer when the park is so hot and full of ticks.
I have noticed a change in the past ten years
There seems to be large groups of dog walker who come from Bridgeport in vans and those dogs are rough often out of control
People are knocked down with broken bones
An enclosed area would protect people as well as dogs
Think past your own point of view and see what may be done to help the greater good
it’s only the Bridgeport dogs and it’s walkers that are the problem ? There are no issues with Westport Weston Fairfield dog walkers and their dogs ?
Do you recognize that there are huge problems with enclose dog parks? How would you mitigate those risks? In the dog parks that I’ve been to, people just let their dog loose and sit down and look at their phones, while the dogs wrestle in urine-soaked dirt.
All I would change at Winslow would be to limit walkers to three dogs, like they do at Lake Mohegan.
I live in Lexington KY now and we have…..40 acres of dog parks! 40 acres!!! You can do this Westport!!!
So get all of your new post Covid moved from NYC dog loving friends together and purchase some land , to donate to The Town of Westport and callThe Winnie Dog run area.
Bill Banks you will always be the coolest member of our class. You continue to prove it.
I agree that Westport needs an enclosed play space for dogs and I hope that your petition persuades the town to create one. Please add my name to it! Winslow Park is lovely, but is only safe for leashed walks. In 2023 I emailed the Westport Parks & Rec Commission, asking if Winslow Park’s off-leash area could be enclosed. Parks & Rec responded that they were “not interested,” qualified by “there has been little appetite for fully fenced dog runs.” How did they decide? A Golden Doodle focus group? My rescue Corgi and I have made the rounds of fenced dog runs in Easton, Milford, Shelton, Stratford, Rowayton, and Ridgefield. Rowayton and Ridgefield are great! It’s amazing that all those towns have provided residents’ and their dogs with such amenities and Westport hasn’t.
In Columbia Md. next month a social club for dogs and dogs lovers will open up and occupy a 25,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor space next to the Merriweather Post Pavilion. There will be a professionally monitored off-leash yard for dogs and a bar and cafe for human guests who also can enjoy a beer wall, Adirondack chairs on a covered patio and a retail area called Frankie’s House. The cafe will offer dog-friendly snacks and serve coffee and breakfast items in the morning then beer, wine and other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and lunch items in the afternoon and evening. Dog treats will include doggy ice cream, pupsicles.
The dog park is a great town asset There may be too many dogs in Westport and other towns for a safe dog run. it also may raise taxes. A homeowner can make a safe dog run at home and invite friends. I’d like to see Westport have an outdoor exercise facility as many towns have.
Bark Social is the company opening this social club in Columbia Maryland. Google it and contact the company.
Totally unnecessary in the suburbs . You have a great off leash park, a yard and two legs. Get out there and give your dogs some love. Don’t ask your neighbors to do it for you!
One would presume that, as with Parks & Rec as a whole, users would be expected to cover the costs, not the “neighbors.”
Winslow has two big problems – first, as mentioned in the piece, it isn’t enclosed, so dogs can get out. Secondly, many folks just kind of let their dogs out and don’t pay attention to them.
Speaking only for myself here, but in almost thirty years in Westport, I’ve had six dogs. I took the first to Winslow one time, and said “never again” because it was a proverbial sh!t show.
Unfortunately, adjacent Towns have way better parks for dog owners. We should strive to be as good.
I’ve been going to Winslow almost daily since I moved here, and it’s fantastic. The only thing I would change is that I would limit people to three dogs, like they do at Lake Mohegan. That will definitely help with the dog walkers who take a large group of dogs and just sit there while the dogs get into trouble.
The reason I don’t want it enclosed is very simple – then you’ll have novice, inexperienced owners feeling like it’s safe to let their unsocialized and untrained dogs loose, like they would in any fenced dog park. So yeah, maybe you’ll have fewer dogs running into traffic, but then you have a whole new host of problems to consider.
So much has changed with dogs in the last twenty years. Nowadays, any vet or reputable dog trainer will tell you to avoid enclosed dog parks if at all possible. This isn’t controversial.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/smarter-living/the-dog-park-is-bad-actually.html
One NYT piece (which I did read when it was first published) can’t be confused with “any vet or reputable dog trainer.”
And while the slant (given the audience) was to small fenced urban dog parks, there was really no differentiation between fenced and unfenced in either the advice in the article nor the issues that they addressed.
Dog Parks are as good (or as bad) as the mindfulness of the dog owners who use them. Fully fenced, with a typical Parks & Rec permitting program, would just create more tools for responsible dog owners, while making the program more self-sustaining for Town.
If you’re looking for models, check out South Windsor’s dog park. It’s pretty great. FWIW, I’d imagine upkeep is quite costly. And, as is the case with most dog parks, it’s dominated by the alphas (canine and human) who happen to be there.
Westport absolutely needs a dog run. But how???
I know!!! Let’s start a campaign!!! We’ll need plenty of yard signs though. We can take the ones we confiscate from the TRumpers and reuse them. We will only have to change a couple of words. The tagline will say: “Westporters Are Pet-O-Philes!!!”
Off topic TDS…seek help🇺🇸
I find it interesting that Tom Feeley on more than one occasion, and to different people, has publicly suggested that they need mental help. It’s becoming a frequent occurrence!
Jack, We similarly deranged people refer to the condition as “Touchy-Feeley Disorder” or TFD for short. AKA: Projection. Rock On Westporters!!!
Eric, Is your I.Q over 190? I’m starting to wonder if you’re a real genius. All your comments are earth shattering!
I wish Jack!!! It was 180 until I got TDS (Tooker Derangement Syndrome) and the treatment drugs that were prescribed brought it down to its current 145.
Eric, Coincidently I suffered from TDS, but was cured. My doctor recommended “Frequently Ordered Testosterone Injections” or F.O.T.I. My I.Q soared to 98!
Jack, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing with my excess testosterone. You keep yours with the F.O.T.I. I will change from that and donate mine to M.A.D.E. Fund. (Masculinity Assist for Doug Emhoff) where it is urgently needed.
Lots of sick people out there Jack‼️🇺🇸
Touché to Touchy Tommy Feeley,
We’re not “sick”. We’re inappropriate.
Either way 👎🏻
I would love to see an enclosed dog run at Winslow Park especially if it can be a membership where patrons need to pay the town to join and show a vaccination record (like the run at Waveny Park in New Canaan). This could keep our dogs safe and be a source of maintenance fees for Winslow Park. Can you leave a note as to how to advocate for this to get built? Is there a group we can join?
Move to New Canaan.
Please this is a polite dialog. I am genuinely interested in having this happen, and I think New Canaan does this well. I would appreciate it if you refrain from glib responses.
Sorry, your comment calling for an “membership” based Westport dog run, coupled with an earlier ridiculous comment warning us all about hordes of dogs being bussed in from Bridgeport, did bring up images of a Westport I don’t want to be a part of. We are very fortunate to live in Westport, putting up even more barriers and creating even more Us versus Them places are not things I want to see happen in this town.
Sir, I am not asking for US vs. THEM. Vaccination records are pretty important for healthy interactions with dogs. A membership dog run would ensure that the dogs using the runs are safe to interact with each other. Please don’t accuse me of “othering” users of Winslow Park. I am talking only about using an enclosed dog run, which should have the proper sanitary protocols.
That’s fair and I read too much into your comment. Health is important, obviously. Unfortunately there is a very deep history of using legitimate arguments for bad motives. That is not what you were doing here. Got it.
Thanks
Vaccinations will not ensure that the dogs are safe to interact, you’ll still have diseases and aggression issues.
It’s simply a minimal requirement.
They tried. Couldn’t get in because NC doesn’t accept NY’ers. Settled for Westport. Or Westport settled for them. I think the Barons South would be a good place for a dog run. Already has a fence. Or they could volunteer at the animal shelter and enroll their own dogs. Employee discount.
What’s the “ ballpark” cost of a beautiful dog run?
I agree that Westport would benefit from an enclosed space for dogs to run freely. I frequently visit the dog park in Woodbridge, CT, where they have two fenced in areas, one for small dogs and one for large dogs. Users are respectful and watch the dogs closely. Dog waste bags are provided and it has never been an issue. Westport has ARPA money that remains unspent. Alternatively a portion of the funds raised by the Dog Festival could fund this worthy endeavor (estimates according to Matt Mandell are approximately $20,000 to get the area properly fenced). This would be a relatively small expenditure but one that would keep our canine friends happy and well exercised!
$20k is just the fencing and that’s very low. Then you need to consider the surface and there are a lot of options and problems. Pavement is easy to clean but gets hot in the summer. Wood chips are absorbent, but need to be replaced regularly. Then you need to hook up water, which won’t work in the winter so it will get disgusting. You’re looking at $200,000 then maintenance every year which could easily cost $80k.
You likely missed my prior response to you that Parks & Rec programs are (as a matter of Town policy) paid for by users. It’s why having a fee-based system would be good in two ways – one, the users would pay for it; two, paying customers would be more respectful of the community.
I genuinely don’t get the cost concern because it isn’t much. The LLSBC tried to embed the cost of a new ballfield into the school building cost. That was a million dollar expense that would’ve been covered by taxpayers. And what about our ballfield maintenance costs? They dwarf what maintenance on one enclosed dark park would be.
The objections here are peculiar.
Owner of two dogs here. I stopped going to Winslow Park long ago because it’s dominated by a group of entitled, rude regulars whose untrained, aggressive dogs frequently attack others, including puppies, while they stand around chatting. The right solution would be barring these people and their aggressive dogs from the park, but because there is no oversight, that will never happen.
Taking what is already a problem in a huge park and reducing it to an enclosed pen is only going to escalate the issue.
Traditional enclosed dog parks are generally not recommended by behaviorists and other dog professionals. They’re the source of lots of aggression and other behavioral problems and lead to the spread of disease, among other issues. They’re a necessary evil in cities, but totally unnecessary here, where there are plenty of places to let your dogs run without having to deal with the Winslow Park regulars. Try the beach in winter, Brett Woods on 136 just over the Fairfield line, or in Weston, Trout Brook’s off leash loop, among others.
I can sympathize with your comments, but I feel that the issues you bring up are a dog owner/parent issue. People need to understand their dogs and if a dog is aggressive toward other dogs or people, they should not be bringing them to an enclosed dog park. Owners need to monitor their dogs, leash in hand, ready to restrain at the first sign of aggression. The first few times I brought my dog to an unfamiliar dog park, she remained on leash and I stood between her and any dog that came up to us, talked with the owner and made sure the dog was friendly, just like being the parent of a little kid. Once introduced and tails were wagging, I would step aside, but my dog remained on leash for probably the first three visits to the park. Now she’s friends with most of them and no longer needs to be leashed (unless I see a stranger there).
I didn’t really think much about dog parks until I relocated to Florida four years ago. With relocation came the opportunity to rescue a sweet Lab/Pit mix. Nearly every town here in Florida has one or more dog parks that are generally split into two distinct areas, one for larger dogs and one for smaller dogs. Amenities include a fresh water source and stainless steel bowls, obstacle courses, mock fire hydrants, a dog washing station, lots of benches and some picnic tables for humans, and, of course, an abundance of waste bag dispensers (always seem to be full), and a place to throw it away. We even have a couple nearby dog beaches, available year round! These have been invaluable in helping to socialize my rescue and it’s a place to meet other dog advocates. Volunteers do a lot to keep the dog parks in good shape, but the host towns do regular maintenance and upkeep. I would think Westport could do the same thing. Honestly, with the yearly budget that Parks & Rec has (or maybe should have) a dog park would be a relatively small expense and certainly a plus for the community.
We do have a dog park at Winslow, it’s wonderful. It’s just not fenced. Just like Central Park has off-leash hours and isn’t fenced. You just have to watch your dog and teach it to have reliable recall.
Totally agree with Mssrs O’Hara and Johnson here… This seems unnecessary in our town. We had our dog for 17 great years – walked her very regularly in our neighborhood, she ran in the yard when she wanted, did occasional visits to Compo and Trout Brook… We took her to Winslow maybe twice early on and we saw the same unwelcome behavior with poorly trained dogs that others have mentioned. So welcome to Westport, ensure your dog is properly trained, and make good use of all the options that are already out there!
New Canaan has one for years. Annual fee for residents though.
http://spencersrunwaveny.info
For us a dog run is a life changer. We are octogenarians with walking issues – too many birthdays/and sports. Here we have a
dog walker but that is just not enough to keep our 7 year old dog
happy and healthy. And it does not get us out of the house. Fortunately for him and us we are in Maine each Summer where there is a wonderful fenced dog run with a
people shelter – where there is a comfortable covered meeting spot for dog owners to converse. It is a wonderful way for both us and our dog to socialize – and for him exercise. Each Summer
he takes off the pounds he gained here without that daily exercise. Hopefully our elected representatives will show the wisdom to approve the small expense to provide a dog run where dogs can run free and voters can gather to chat about how wonderful and tuned in our leaders are.
Happy to see a lot of comments on this particular proposal/thought.
Mimi and I started this petition over a year ago. We’re currently at 795 signatures.
There are those who are against it and won’t use one, but that does not mean it cannot be installed and allowed for others who want to use it or will benefit from it.
Don’t like it or want to use it? That’s fine! There’s the WHOLE park that’s open with trails and open non enclosed areas.
Click the link below to sign!
https://chng.it/YK8fC8XTBJ
If approved, there will be a choice and more available use for those who need an enclosed area. It can also be divided into dogs under 25 pounds in one section, and 25+ in the other, off leash, worry free and peace of mind.
Andrew, are you saying that you are proposing no town tax revenue money would be spent on this, and that any cost for this would be paid for by user fees, like other P&R programs?
This is great Andrew. Let me know how else we can be helpful!
A bit over the top for me. That said, about ten of us meet at Wakeman Park at 7:00 p.m. or so each night and our dogs play and run play very nicely, thank you. I would like to see a fence along the road for the students drive too fast and most dogs are not car smart especially with deer out now in numbers. I have heard (only) that Winslow has many aggressive dogs and as such our LONG HAIRED WHEATEN TERRIER (note that Westporters always have to tell you the breed of their dog?) does not mingle with such very well. I am also told that Greens Farms Academy welcomes dog walkers at the field any time, ignoring the potential threat this town seems to think exists during the day at Wakeman and Long Lots. The threat, folks, is after school not during school for hundreds of students play sports after school, making it a ripe target for some wacko hiding in the east bushes.
Jack Backel you’re the one who added “mental.” That might be an excellent addition. Thanks🇺🇸
Entitled white people problems. Unreal.