Does your pup love playing at Prospect Park's dog beach? Well, she'll have to wait awhile before she can play in the water there. The beach is closing from the middle of this July until next spring for a makeover. Fortunately for all water-loving dogs, they can still swim in the lake at the Peninsula off-leash area during regular off-leash hours (before 9am and after 9pm).
The Prospect Park Alliance plans to improve the health & safety of the lakeshore and make it more appealing to wildlife, as well as making it more beautiful. Your dog might not notice how much more beautiful it is, but you surely will!
One of the upgrades will include replacing the pavement with more natural-looking stone slabs. Since the stone is coming from an upstate quarry, the new walkways will resemble the streambeds in the Catskills or Adirondacks.
The current chain link fencing will give way to a low-profile cable and mesh fence. This new type of barrier is both durable and pet-friendly.
Invasive aquatic plants will be ripped out and replaced by native plants nestled amongst the new boulders put in place to stabilize the pool edge. In order to complete these changes and improve the aquatic habitat, the Upper Pool will have to be drained.
Don't worry about the wildlife, though. The Alliance's landscape management staff is planning a turtle and fish rescue operation. The wildlife will probably forgive the temporary disruption to their lives when they're released back into their new and vastly improved waterscape!
The changes to the dog beach are just part of the more extensive renovations to Brooklyn’s flagship park by the Prospect Park Alliance. This non-profit organization works in partnership with the City of New York to keep this iconic park one of the best in the city. You can learn more about their work at www.prospectpark.org.
Until the dog beach reopens next spring, we'll make sure your dog gets the exercise he needs for true doggy happiness. Contact us for details if you need help keeping pup's exercise level up.
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