Lubbock Dog Park Put on Hold Due to Contest Rules

Some Lubbock citizens continue their push for a dog park in the city, but it won’t happen as soon as some had hoped.

Lubbock is no longer a candidate in pet supply company PetSafe’s “Bark for your Park” contest, in which the winner wins $100,000 for a dog park.

Upon review of the contest rules, City Attorney Sam Medina found that under the indemnification clause, the City would be liable for the costs if the sponsor were to be sued.

The City of Lubbock does not have a sinking fund to cover those possible costs, and Medina says would not be a viable option in the future. This renders a dog park built with contest funds too risky to have at a City park.

Finding a suitable location has also been a challenge for advocates of the park, but most of the Lubbock City Council members seem to like the idea of having a dog park.

“We are meeting again next week. We are organizing, we are beginning our fundraising strategy, and our plan is to come before the City Council in the future with possibly a dog park in a City park…but who knows? We might go bigger,” said Bill Curnow, who spoke for the organization working toward a dog park.

“It sucks saying no to money, but there’s no such thing as free money,” Curnow continued.

District 3 Councilman Todd Klein, who has been a proponent of a dog park in Lubbock, offered his hope for the future regarding this issue.

“If we can get more community involvement, this could be privately funded, and I think we can get it done,” said Klein.

Some of the parks that have been considered for the location of a dog park are Stumpy Hamilton and Clapp Parks.