Officials announce plan to double number of dog parks in ABQ

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Dog owners and their four-legged friends are about to have a lot more options when it comes to burning some of that energy.

“We are aiming for an equitable distribution of these great park amenities across our city so as many Burqueños as possible can have easy access to some of the great park and recreation facilities in our city,” said David Simon, the director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Albuquerque.

Currently, Albuquerque ranks 11th in the nation for dog parks, according to a recent study from LawnStarter. Officials hope a new initiative to double the number of dog parks in the city will help them climb up that list.

“Our city in general does a good job with dog parks, it’s not like we are trying to solve a problem instead it is the opposite. We are trying to demonstrate national leadership with the amount of dog parks per capita,” said Mayor Tim Keller at a press conference Thursday morning.

The city has 11 mini-dog parks on the drawing board right now. These parks will range from a tenth of an acre to an acre.

They also have a few traditional parks that will be bigger and offer more amenities for dogs.

“Those things could include more shade structures, play features for the puppies and lighting. But the mini-dog parks are going to be a great strategic way to enhance access to dog parks for our dogs and their owners,” said Simon.

Dog owners KOB 4 spoke with are excited for more options closer to home.

“That would be great, I would like to see come over closer to where I live but this is great to have them have more places to go so they don’t get tired of going to the same place all of the time,” said Frank Slocomb.