About the Riverside Park 87th Street Dog Run

dogrun87

WHAT'S NEW AT DOG RUN 87

WHAT'S NEW? The water supply has been moved to the north end of the run; the entry gate has been fixed and re-paved; a new bench has been added; and stonework has been added behind some of the benches to prevent digging. There's a lot more work to come. Many, many thanks to our generous donors and sponsors. Business sponsors will receive ads and highlighted listings in the 2010 Upper West Side Dog Services Directory, which is nearing completion. If you have not yet contributed, please do so soon to help us complete the extensive capital improvements we have planned. If you have any questions, please email us using the "contact" button at the left. (November 22, 2009)

WHAT'S NEW? Dog Run 87 has launched a major capital campaign to improve and upgrade the run. We need your financial contributions to make it possible for all of us --and our canine companions- to enjoy a safer, more attractive run. We also need your help with fund-raising. Please give generously. If you can help raise funds, please email us using the "contact" button at the left. (October 2009)

WHAT'S NEW? Many thanks to all who turned out for the dog run clean-up and work day Saturday, June 2, 2008. There's still some work to do installing the silt fencing (to make the the crushed bluestone surface last longer and to protect the hedges around the run) and cleaning and mulching around the trees inside the run. If you can help, please email us using the "contact" button at the left.

WHAT'S NEW? The dog run is maintained by volunteers. Although we receive some help from Riverside Park Fund and Parks Department staff, the responsibility for keeping things together is OURS. We need people to help with fundraising to cover maintenance costs, posting useful information on the bulletin board, making sure that the doggy-doo bag dispensers are full, helping with fundraising, managing a budget, organizing events, and all sorts of other things. If you can help, please email us using the "contact" button at the left.

WHAT'S NEW? On May 10, 2007, the New York City Parks Department launched a newly clarified Off-Leash Policy formalizing off-leash privileges in designated areas from 9 p.m. until parks close, and from opening until 9 a.m. (Of course, well-socialized, healthy, licensed dogs are welcome in dog runs at all times when parks are open.) Many thanks to all of you who signed, sent letters, and otherwise supported the recent campaign to defeat a challenge to this long-standing though previously unwritten policy, which is good for people and for dogs and for public health and safety. For more information, visit www.nycoffleash.com.

Recently, when members of the 87th Street dog run wanted to compare the experiences of other dog runs in the city, it was not easy to track everyone down. Wouldn't it be easier, we thought, if the websites of New York dog communities were joined? That's how we decided to start the New York City Dog Collar webring, a network of websites linked to each other for easy navigation. We invite all New York City dog lovers with websites to join the Dog Collar.

Dog Run 87 was featured on NBC's The Apprentice 2 Episode 7 on Thursday, October 21, 2004. The Donald's denizens tried to clean up our dirty dogs and discovered that Dodeaux does NOT like having his toenails clipped.

Many thanks to all of you for coming out and being a part of the first dOg-Toberfest! Sunday, October 10, 2004, was a beautiful day in Riverside Park and we had a huge turnout with lots of fun for lots of dogs and their human friends. Because of your participation, we were able to raise $4,768!

We wouldn't have been able to have such a successful dOg-Toberfest without the hard work of a terrific group of volunteers - you all worked so hard and that work is truly appreciated. In particular, we would like to thank the following people:

Janice (Sonny)
Jeremy (Abby)
Karen (Boomer & Jackson)
Leslie (Milo)
Liz (Sammy Doodles)
Meg (Boo)
Misty (Hope and Luna)
Nick (Wiley)
Peter & Samantha (Oscar)
Steve Urow
Steven (Wink)
Sumru (Rocky)

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO:
Shannon (Maggie) for helping to plan the event and getting up at 5:00 a.m. to make sure our signs were EVERYWHERE ...

Hilary (Zahvi) for staffing and coordinating all of our volunteers...

Louise and Parker (Riley) for doing all of the decorations and putting up so many balloons that all of the kiddie parties went without that day ...

Jay Ward for donating his CDs and for keeping Rocco and Zahvi entertained on Sunday ...

Jim Dowell (Riverside Park Fund) and Jibrail Nor (Parks Department) who have put in so much time and effort for the last several months to make our event a success

WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT:

Andrea Arden, who donated her time as well as some fantastic raffle prizes ...

Maureen Schild, who donated two great raffle prizes and took pictures at the event ...

... and our other local businesses who were so generous and contributed to our raffle prize pool, including:

Blue Sky Dogs
Canine Ranch
Doggie Doodles
Hydrosurge

Thanks again to each of you for coming out to participate and for volunteering your time - it was a great day.

AND ABOVE ALL, a very loud and heartfelt thank-you to Colette, Rocco's mom, for putting together this amazing event, our first-ever DOG-Toberfest! What a success! Tons of people, doggie excitement, a wonderfully fun and high-profile way to let people know about our dog run and our funding needs, and a good old fashioned community bonding experience! Not to mention pet adoptions, microchipping and raising money to help fund our maintenance! Colette did an amazing job organizing this event – from coming up with the idea (raised at the last committee meeting), to deciding on a format, finding a date, coordinating key partners Andrea Arden and Animal Care & Control, getting permits, finding raffle prize donors, raising awareness of the event, and then making it all happen! It was a lot of fun to be a part of, and we are incredibly proud that it was in our own dog run.

Shannon and Maggie --the amazing gardening dog-- pulled together an impromptu weeding and hole-filling morning September 12, 2004, and made a hardware store run for trowels, gloves, and other work stuff as well as the new leash holder and cigarette buckets (see below). The crew included Linda (Harley), Nina (Taxi), Bill (Rusty), Michele (Nina), and I know I'm forgetting some others who pitched in so apologies and big Thank You! There's lots more to do so we'll be planning another cleanup day with some advance warning. We will also be buying a shed so that cleanup tools, extra poop bags, and the like are always handy.

You don't even want to think about the disgusting stashes of cigarette butts the gang discovered behind the benches... sooo, look for the brand new tin buckets for disposing of cigarette butts, use them and, if they are getting full, please empty them.

We at Dog Run 87 hope that this site will help to promote a sense of community among the dog owners and lovers who use the run. You can use this site to keep up with what's going on at the run, and soon we will install a forum so that dog owners can share information on an ongoing basis. In the meantime, you can use our Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.org/group/dogrun87/

Also, to be perfectly honest, we hope that this website will make it easier for dog owners and friends to support the ongoing maintenance of the dog run as well as to help fund upcoming improvements, especially improved drainage. Remember, Dog Run 87 is funded entirely through private donations and maintained by volunteers. Soon, we will post budgets for annual maintenance and capital improvements so that you can see how the dog run will use your generous contributions.

As our web home is a work in progress, we welcome your comments and suggestions for information you'd like to see included on this site We'd also really love it if you would volunteer to help. There's lots to do! To contact us, please CLICK HERE.