Ozark community members to soon have a place to take their furry friends

DOTHAN, Ala. (WTVY) - COVID-19 has driven many to enjoy the outdoors or even gain a new member for their family.

“It started at the beginning of the pandemic. we had got some dogs for my kids since we were going to have to shelter at our house and we wanted to give them a distraction and we had saw some statics that had suggested that a lot of people had done that and had actually gotten dogs,” Jason Varney -

Which lead to Jason Varney’s big idea, a dog park.

“We’re animal lovers and the City of Ozark has recently became more of an animal lover city with their no kill shelter and it’s a step in the right direction for our city,” said Varney.

After finding the perfect land, an unused baseball field, he knew it was time to get to work.

“It’s already fenced off and we are going to keep it baseball themed and nobody else was doing anything with it, it was kind of turning into an eye sore,” said Varney.

With a list of goals for the park that’s still growing. Just to name a few…

“we want to do some water features during the summer months were going to put an obstacle course on the back side over here and a sand pit right here where the dogs can dig in,” said Varney.

The goal is that the park be a safe place for all types and sizes. At first Varney plans to set times to keep bigger dogs and smaller dogs separated then down the road extend off of the main park to give smaller dogs a park of their own.

Varney’s has hopes to have the dog park opened by the beginning of March. Donations are also being accepted to help build the dog park. IF you would like to donate or follow along on updates of the park you can visit their Facebook page.

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