Country's Largest Dog Park Opens in Jacksonville

By Jamie Muro First Coast News

JACKSONVILLE, FL --- It's a dog's life, at least it is on Salisbury Road in Jacksonville. Starting Saturday, the owner of Dogwood Park says she's opening up the largest dog park in the United States.

"As far as I know, it is the largest fenced dog park in the country," says owner Lynn Badger.

There is no denying the park is large, enough the hold a few football fields. Her property stretches for 42 acres, complete with trails and a two acre lake that dogs can swim in.

The area has different sections divided by chain link fences. There is an area for smaller dogs, larger dogs, a playground for both kids and dogs, as well as an eight acre park complete with lights so your pooch can run around at night.

Many of the parks also come complete with lawn chairs for the masters, tubes and tires for puppies. And if your best friend gets a little dirty while running around with some friends, there's even a shower area.

"What dogs want is room to run, they want smells, they want a lake to swim in, and they want other dogs to play with. They really don't care if there are these pretty agility things out there, but the humans want to see it," laughs Badger.

Make no mistake, Dogwood Park is a for-profit business. A one dog membership runs $269 a year, and if you have two dogs, the price jumps to $289. However, if you are not interested in become a club member, you can do a pay-by-play scenario for ten dollars.

A small price to pay considering Badger invested four hundred thousand dollars to get the park up and running.

"They've (dog parks) become extremely popular. Now there are a few private dog parks, but to my knowledge, I had the first one, going on six years ago," Badger says. She started her first park, a much smaller version at only 10 acres, in Gainesville.

Nick Jongebloed is one of the first members here at Dogwood Park. He says the running area for his two dobermans is, well, "paw"fect.

"This alone is huge, and the large area back there with the water, the wooded area with a walking trail, it's like walking on a nature trail," Jonebloed says as he dishes out treats to his two friends.

Badger says she is expecting about 300 dogs for Saturday's grand opening.

"A lot of people use words like dog heaven. Some people have said it was the best day in dog's life and maybe the best day in their life!"

©2010 First Coast News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, or redistributed.