Va. St parks and pet fee

westernrvparkowner wrote:

wbwood wrote:
He also mentioned "associated costs with pets", but did not state what the associated costs were.

We re-sod the dog parks every three years to keep up with the urine killed grass. I have had to patch holes dug in sites by bored, tethered dogs. I can remember three times people had tethered their dogs to the water lines and the dog yanked hard enough to break the upright. Over the years we have had several guests leave early because they were disturbed by their neighbor's dogs and just didn't want to take the chance that even if management spoke to them, that the dogs would actually be kept quiet. Our insurance would be cheaper if we didn't allow dogs. Our doggie pot bag costs run a couple of hundred dollars a year. Right now I am having to replace three trees at several hundred dollars a tree because they got girdled by a careless pet owner tethering their poor dog with a chain. And now the next few hundred people using those sites won't be shaded by a 20 foot tall tree, they will, instead, be bask in the hot sun, because the 8 foot tall replacement trees won't provide much shade for 10 years.
Finally, handling dog complaints and problems takes time and time equals money. Yes, those employees handling those issues would be paid regardless, but they would much rather be earning their pay helping people enjoy their stay, not listening to complaints and dealing with the offenders. To say having dogs in a park is costless, is just plain inaccurate.

I always find your post to be eyeopening, it gives a prespective that I did not have prior to reading. Thanks for you imput!