Place to Dog It : Every Canine Can Have His Day at Laguna’s ‘Bark Park,’ a 2-Acre Strip Popular With Fido and His Owner

Trendy restaurants are commonplace in Laguna Beach, but some say the liveliest social stir is being created these days on a two-acre strip of grass along Laguna Canyon Road known as the “Bark Park.”

Two months after opening, the county’s only park exclusively for dogs is attracting animal lovers and their pets from as far away as Beverly Hills, with as many as 75 dog owners sometimes converging on the park at one time.

“It’s just a phenomenal success,” Cindy King, city recreation director, said. “We’ve had people parking on every available space on Laguna Canyon Road and waiting for people to pull out so they could take (their) spaces.”

But not only dogs are making the most of the city’s newest recreation hot spot. Laguna’s two-legged residents have also jumped on the bandwagon with gusto. Some pack a meal and bring blankets or portable tables and chairs so they can dine outdoors while their dogs run free.

“It’s what I call our canyon pub,” said Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr., whose animal services division oversees the park. “They’re really making a joyful time of it.”

And this could be just the beginning.

“One guy called the (animal) shelter and asked if he could put a cappuccino stand there,” animal control officer Joy Lingenfelter said. “I can just see the little Italian cafe umbrellas and the people reclining and having cappuccino while their dogs run. If that isn’t quintessential Laguna, I don’t know what is.”

Lingenfelter said the city has been surprised by the public’s overwhelming response to the park and is taking steps to upgrade the area by installing a better system for waste disposal and maybe more picnic tables.

“We just didn’t anticipate this kind of volume,” she said. “People have been coming from far and wide to this park. One day I asked and we had one from Costa Mesa and another from Long Beach. They’re coming from all over.”

So far, officials say, dog altercations have been kept to a minimum, with no bites reported. One dog was slightly injured when it was hit by a car on Laguna Canyon Road after being allowed to be unleashed outside the gated park, Purcell said.

City officials say it is important that residents keep dogs on leashes when they get out of their cars or leave the park.

The City of Laguna Beach Dog Park, the canine playground’s official title and one of only a few in Southern California, was created in response to citizen concerns.

While some residents complained about unleashed dogs at parks and beaches, others lobbied City Hall asking that a designated time be set aside so their pets could run freely.

The compromise park plan was put together by RUFF (Rescuing Unwanted Furry Friends), a volunteer group that works with the city animal shelter, and GTE Telephone Operations, which owns the land.

Some residents scoffed at the idea, saying it was unlikely that dog owners would pile their pets in a car and drive them to a park along a winding canyon road. Officials, however, say dog owners have made the park a surprising success.

“It seems like we’ve had less dogs running loose on the beach, which was getting to be a real problem,” Lingenfelter said. When unleashed dogs are nabbed running on the beach, their owners are now referred to “Bark Park,” she said.

While Purcell is a fan of the park, he has not yet taken his Chinese sharpei, Mei Ling, for an outing. Sometimes, he said, Mei Ling “goes bananas” around other dogs, and he doesn’t want his pet to set a precedent.

“I don’t want it to be said that the police chief takes his dog out there and it’s the first dogfight,” he said.