To all dog lovers:
Please contact me about the possiblity of developing plans to create a dog
park somewhere in the downtown area.  The City of Chattanooga has expressed an
interest in bringing families back to live downtown, but a major obstacle for
many of us to that idea is the fact that downtown is not pet friendly.  A dog
park could be an important part of the solution.
I recently moved here from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I became an enthusiast
of the dog park.  My dog became more social with both humans and other canines
when she could interact without the restraints of a leash.  Going to the dog
park is a terrific social activity for we humans too; although I usually knew
the dog's names and not the humans', it was fun to sit and chat under the
shade of a tree while dogs of all shapes, sizes, breeds, ages, and temperments
gamboled around us.  In the two years I visited the dog park, I never
witnessed a real fight among the dogs, though there was the occasional growl
(human and canine).  But generally behavior was exemplary in both species, and
I always came away from the dog park feeling that life is a good thing so long
as humans and dogs can get along together.
Interested? Send me an email.  We'll get together and have a planning session
on how to approach the city with this idea.  Please don't email me with your
views about why this is not a good idea, but if you're just not sure, why not
give the possibility a chance? Please forward this email to interested parties
outside the UTC system.
Thank you,

Kathryn M Davis
Assistant Professor
Art History: Contemporary Theory and Criticism
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
423.425.1762