Dog Park

So, we have a local dog park that is kind of awesome. They do temperament testing on all dogs that come in, have like, 23 acres of fenced area for dogs to run. Have a dock for dock diving, plus a pond and some other awesome things.

In addition, they have a self-serve grooming station and some other neat things. You have to be a registered member to come in and it is all done by secure key card and such.

They are about, oh, 5 minutes away from my house. I thought that was great. Til I saw that it was going to be close to $500 for two dogs! After the first year, I want to say it goes down like $50...

I'm just blown away.

That sounds reasonable considering the maintenance costs. If you go weekly that's a whoopin 5.20 bucks a visit.

It sounds like a lot up front, but it roughs out to less than a dollar per day per dog.

Sounds amazing!

If you make the commitment to go daily/multiple times a week, it's totally worth it, in my opinion. Plus you'd probably meet a ton of cool people and cool dogs.

That sounds totally worth it for me, if I had that near me I'd definitely shell out the money. Then again, it depends on how much you would use it, but still that sounds like a worthy investment. Maybe it seems a little less 'ouch' to me because it'd only be one dog.

When you think about it, it breaks down into a reasonable amount weekly, as posted.

That doesn't sound like a lot of money to me, especially if after the first year it costs less. Putting your dog in a day care would cost that much.

They have to pay someone to temperament test all the dogs, upkeep the dock, etc.

Honestly, I wouldn't think it was overpriced if it cost almost $500 for one dog if you didn't have to pay as much after the first year.

I'd definitely do it... and if I lived 5 minutes away from the dog park, I'd be going there every single day! It's really awesome that they do temperament testing too, I can't even tell you how many times I saw an aggressive/reactive dog at a dog park who *clearly* did not want to be there, and their owner's like, "Oh, yeah, she doesn't like other dogs, so I brought her to the dog park to socialize her." And 23 acres is freakin' huuuuuge; back when I lived in Hawaii, guess how big our biggest dog park was? 1/3 of an acre!

TL;DR, I'm super jealous and wish I lived next to such a crazy cool dog park

The amount is pretty reasonable for me considering the neat facilities. As you said the amount goes down after a year. Another plus factor for you is the distance from your home. Running in the 23 acre area would be heaven for your dog too.

Wow, that's amazing. I think I might have to shell out the bucks for that honestly!

Honestly, I understand where the money is going to and such, but it was just like, major sticker shock for me. I mean, if we were in a major city, I could understand it. But this is rural Michigan... We are poor as hell. Haha. Plus there are so many state parks and such that I take the dogs to, and so much land that I have access to for free, I just can't justify it. Especially with getting Rider into classes. They do have a daily thing where you can go for a day and it is $5. So, I may still go every once in a while. And, if anybody wants to do a meetup, you know that I have a great DP. Haha.

I definitely get the sticker shock! Even if it's really just a dollar a day or whatever.... that's a lot to pay upfront. I'd have to save for that for a while lol. But it sounds cool.

They have a program where you can pay every 6 months.. Which isn't as bad because it is like $250. But it still adds up when you add in dog classes and everything.

Wow! That sounds awesome! I would totally pay it!

Our dog parks are all county funded (through bonds for parks and rec stuff), so we pay for them through our taxes but there is minimal upkeep (they remove trees that fall in storms) and anyone can come. $500 (and really, if you go for 5 years, that's only $700 or $140/year--$2.70 per week) seems reasonable for all that you get.

I am jaded to high prices though. Day care here is $30/day, a dog walker is $20 for a 15 minute walk, 6 weeks of training classes are $200, etc.

I'm jealous