🎥 New activity equipment installed at Hays Dog Park

Laurie Mortinger, Friends of the Hays Dog Park, encourages a visiting small dog to walk through a tire in the new agility equipment.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

A four-man crew from the Hays Parks Department was busy last week and Monday installing agility play equipment at the Hays Dog park, 1376 Highway 183 Alternate in the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex.

The new equipment, duplicated in both the small dog and large dog sides of the park, can be enjoyed by canines and humans alike. The dogs can just play among and on the half-buried tires and dirt hills, or they can learn agility skills as they go through the tires in patterns taught by their owners.

The play features in the seven-acre fenced park are for fun and not laid out as a professional agility training course, noted Laurie Mortinger, Friends of the Hays Dog Park board member.

“I think a lot of people have never had their dogs on any agility things,” said Mortinger, whose own dogs haven’t been on such equipment. “It’ll be a new experience for a lot of us,” she laughed.

Tunnels will be installed within the next couple weeks, Parks Director Jeff Boyle said Monday. They’ll be placed where the dirt piles are now.

Dogs can crawl or run through the tunnels which will have the dirt mounded over them, “if they don’t dig it all up and uncover it,” Mortinger laughed again. “They can go through this little dark tunnel, come out the other side and go back around. Or they can go over the top of the hill and go around. Dogs like hills.”

“We ask that you don’t use dog treats to train your dogs on the equipment,” Mortinger cautioned, “because if there are other dogs in the park, they may fight over the dog food.”

Learning new skills at the dog park can be continued at home.

“Some dogs like to be challenged. They’re smart and it’s fun to get them to do different things. If you get them to do some of this at the dog park, you may be able to work with them at home, get them trained at home to do tricks. That’s the fun of it,” she smiled.

The used truck and auto tires for the agility runs were donated by Huston Tire, Hays, and Hays Car and Truck Alignment. The Hays Parks Department donated the labor.

Dave Younger, Hays Parks Dept. employee, operates the backhoe to dig holes for the agility course tires. — Dave Younger, Hays Parks Dept. employee, operates the backhoe to dig holes for the play feature tires.

“The city did all the work, and we really thank them for doing that for us.”

Mortinger said more agility equipment will be added later.

Fundraising continues by Friends of the Hays Park to add permanent benches–for people–under the shade structures. “You can sit there to get out of the sun until our trees get a little bigger. That’s going to take a while,” she added.

As always, Mortinger reminded park users to pick up after their dogs.

“Please clean up after your pets,” she urged. “Even if you don’t see your dog go to the bathroom, and you see some waste after other people have left, please pick it up. That way the dogs don’t eat it. They can get sick from it and you won’t be stepping in it.”

dog-park-potty-station — ‘Dog Pots’ are located on both sides of the Hays Dog Park.

Recent spring-like temperatures are drawing more people and their pets to the dog park. “We had a clean-up a couple weeks ago on a Sunday, and the next day, I found a lot of messes already,” Mortinger sighed. Each side of the dog park provides a pet waste disposal station and plastic bags.

The city of Hays donated the land for the facility, which opened three years ago in Feb. All the amenities have been paid for with financial donations to Friends of the Hays Dog Park, or gifted to the non-profit organization.