The Yellowknife Dog Park is an important outdoor recreation space for a wide variety of residents within the city. It gives people the opportunity to let their dogs socialize in a space that is safe for the dogs and owners the majority of the time.

There is an issue with dog waste at the dog park. There is often a lot of feces not cleaned up within the fence. Members of the community identified that there are 2 contributing factors to this issue. The lack of garbage bin space & appropriate bins within close proximity of the dog park and the fact the bins get overfilled so often.

The second issue identified is the Gate/Entryway fencing. Users of the park identified that the gate at the park is frequently damaged and either won’t open/close properly making it dangerous for dogs to escape and wildlife to enter. This past winter, the entryway wall was leaning over almost completely and was a hazard to the public as it could have collapsed onto anyone attempting to enter the dog park.

To help fix these issues, community members are requesting a larger proper garbage disposal bin at the dog park and a set schedule that the waste bin is emptied and cleaned. By providing an appropriate space for dog waste disposal, and a schedule when it’s removed to ensure the bin is never full and overflowing encourages dog owners to pick up the dog waste and properly dispose of it. This will help prevent the spread of disease and sickness also spread by dogs within their waste. The group of community members is speaking with other sub-arctic dog parks & facilities to help advise on how to improve/ what a better gate system for the entryway might be available to provide a safer and more functional entryway into the dog park. 

We hope to see new waste bins & a proper waste removal schedule implemented by the end of the spring of this year (June 2021) as the park is full of local citizens and their canine friends and it would make spring cleanup of dog waste and summer maintenance much better. We hope to see a new gate/entryway system implemented by the end of the summer of this year (September 2021) to avoid further danger and maintenance issues next winter.