Tails wagging for official opening of Portsmouth Dog Park

I’ve made wonderful friends and met wonderful people and it’s only going to get better because this is a wonderful place to talk with folks and share dogs.”

Bunny Miller, Portsmouth Dog Park Planning Committee

PORTSMOUTH — “It started with a death and now it’s about life,” is how Bunny Miller summed up the Portsmouth Dog Park, which celebrated its grand opening Sunday with a ribbon-cutting and lots of happy canines.

Ms. Miller, chairwoman of the Portsmouth Dog Park Planning Committee, conceived the idea for the town’s first off-lease park after the death of her dog Oscar, a 15-year-old, blind Lhasa Apso. Several years ago, Oscar was attacked and killed outside Ms. Miller’s townhouse by a neighbor’s dog that was running loose. 

Ms. Miller was determined that something positive come out of Oscar’s death, and that culminated Sunday with the dog park, which is now open for daily use from dawn to dusk.

“I’m here just to thank one person and one person only: Bunny Miller,” said Town Council President Keith Hamilton. 

Along with council member Elizabeth Pedro, the council liaison to the dog park committee, Mr. Hamilton held a ribbon strung in front of the entrance while Ms. Miller cut away. (She got the doggy-design ribbon from Hodges Badge Company.)

The council president said Oscar’s death kicked off a four-year process in which Ms. Miller went looking for a suitable spot for the dog park before settling on Melville Park. She then worked closely with town officials and employees, and at one point even hired a herd of goats to eat through vegetation on the site.

“This place would not be here if not for Bunny Miller,” said Mr. Hamilton.

Ms. Miller in turn thanked members of the dog park panel, elected officials, town employees, volunteers who helped build the park, and those involved in fund-raising efforts for the park, which was created without the use of tax dollars.

“We’ve had wonderful grants from the van Beuren Charitable Foundation, the Rhode Island Foundation, Aquidneck Land Trust, Merritt Neighborhood Fund, the Coll Family Trust. We couldn’t have done it without them,” she said.

It’s been a “long four years,” Ms. Miller acknowledged. “My mantra was a quote from Tony Dungy, the NFL coach. He said, ‘Success is really a journey of persistence and perseverance in spite of failure.’ We’ve had our bumps in the road and we have persisted to the point of my being a pain in the neck to a lot of people,” she said.

Dogs run free

After that, more than a dozen dogs — others trickled in throughout the afternoon — were set loose inside the park. The park has a separate section for smaller dogs in case their owners prefer to separate them from larger canines, but the vast majority of the pooches scampered around in the main area.

Among the visitors were School Committee Chairwoman Terri Cortvriend, who brought along her two Portuguese water dogs, and Town Council member Linda Ujifusa, who had her toy poodle, Pepper, by her side.

Ms. Miller said while the park is now open daily, there’s still work to be done.

“Water is going to be coming across from the campground,” she said. “Right now we have temporary water being hauled in. We’re hoping to have an agility area in the back corner, and we would like to have solar lighting for the winter months, from 4-8 p.m. That will all depend on the grants that we’re writing and additional funding sources. Hopefully we’ll have it all finished by September or October.”

A second batch of memorial pavers are being sold for $75 each until June 15. Order forms are available at Town Hall and the Portsmouth Free Public Library, or you can contact Ms. Miller at bunnym@cox.net.

The group is also selling static-cling stickers that read, “My Dog and I Love Portsmouth Dog Park,” for $3 each. (They were handed out for free on Sunday.)

Ms. Miller said the park will serve as a happy spot to socialize — for dogs and people alike.

“I’ve made wonderful friends and met wonderful people and it’s only going to get better because this is a wonderful place to talk with folks and share dogs,” she said.

For more information, visit www.portsmouthdogpark.com or www.facebook.com/portsmouthlovesdogs.