Small business owners are getting steady orders, but the city bylaw office warns them to be careful
Lisa DeCurtis’s life changed the first time she took her German shorthaired pointers to Country Canines Play Park.
Sunshine, her younger dog, had never run free before. She didn’t come back when she was called, so public dog parks weren’t a good choice. DeCurtis also ran into a lot of dangerous dogs that bit her older pointer.
But for $16 for half an hour, her dogs had their own space. Once her leash was off, Sunshine couldn’t be stopped.
“It was so crazy how happy she made me,” said DeCurtis. “I think she ran around the perimeter three times at full speed without stopping.”
Now, she almost always goes there with her pointers. It’s part of what seems to be a rise in the number of people using private dog parks for pets that don’t do well in public spaces where everyone is free to do what they want.
Bobbiann Geller, who opened the first Country Canines Play Park six years ago, said, “This is a very safe place where each client knows they won’t meet a strange dog or strange people.”
Since then, she has opened three more, all in the Ottawa area, because there was so much demand. She wants to build two more, one in London, Ontario, and the other somewhere else.
Her parks are used for everything from dog birthday parties to play dates. She also has reunions for the puppies with their siblings a year after they have been adopted.
But mostly it’s just a place outside where dogs who don’t like strangers can stay. She gets about 50 bookings a week at each park. She won’t say how much she makes, but it’s clear that she enjoys her busy schedule.
Geller said, “It’s worth my time for sure.” “It’s given me a kind of freedom that I didn’t have before.”
There’s an app for tha
Geller said that her parks are so full that she doesn’t need to find new ways to get people to come. Word-of-mouth has been the main source of growth.
But a new smartphone app gives people who run businesses out of their homes another way to reach customers.
Sniffspot is like Airbnb for dog parks. It brings the sharing economy to fenced lots all over North America. Only a few Sniffspots have been put up around Ottawa, but some of them have a steady stream of customers.
Clayton McWilliams has been a Sniffspot host for about two years. At first, only a few people were interested, but last year, 470 people made reservations.
“My goal for this year is 600,” he said.
McWilliams said that Maggie, his border collie, was one reason why he started using the app.
“I got her during COVID“Because of that, she didn’t get to meet that many people,” he said.
Properties on Sniffspot range from small backyards to large farms. McWilliams put up a fence around a part of his family’s farm near Navan that was once used to grow hay. He said that letting dogs use it has made more money than growing hay there.
“It’s not a very good way to make a lot of money,” McWilliams said. “But it’s nice to have a little passive income.”
Be mindfu
But not everyone with unused open space might be able to do that.
Roger Chapman, the director of bylaw and regulatory services for the City of Ottawa, said in a statement that using land for this purpose “may be comparable to an animal care establishment or kennel, depending on the nature of activities.”
“Land owners should be aware of how their land can be used and how it affects their neighbors,” Chapman said.
Some parts of the city, especially in rural areas, allow kennels and other places that take care of animals, but not in residential areas.
Chapman said that noise problems would be taken into account when looking into each complaint.
A safe spac
Heather Laundry, who runs a dog training center in Stittsville called Carolark, says there are many reasons why public dog parks might not be a good idea.
“It’s possible that it’s a dog that doesn’t get along with dogs it doesn’t know or that hasn’t been carefully introduced to,” said Laundry.
Laundry said that she doesn’t remember there being many places for dogs to rent in the Ottawa area before about five years ago. Now, she often recommends them because pets that don’t do well in public places still need to get out of their backyards and explore.
“Exploring a new environment and taking a look around a place they might not have seen before can be helpful,” she said.
Laundry also said that aggressive dogs need a place to work on changing their behavior, and that roughhousing in public parks can scare away older pets. She also said that animals who are nervous or anxious might need space to be alone.
Maureen Campbell said that her Bernese mountain dog, Opal, is “very sensitive” and full of energy, which is typical of her breed.
Campbell said that trainers told her that public dog parks could hurt Opal, scare her, or teach her to do bad things.
But Geller’s park was fenced in and private, so nothing unusual happened there. It looked good. Even now, she goes there twice a week.
Campbell said, “When she was a puppy, the play park was a real blessing.”
Campbell and DeCurtis both said that it can be hard to find a place at the playground. They’ve seen a steady rise in popularity, and they expect that to continue as more people join the trend.
“I think that everyone should know about it,” Campbell said. “Except then I won’t be able to book anything.”