Bark parks: The latest hangouts for singles
By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Linda Kaichi and Horacio Scheimberg of Hawai'i Kai say their dogs have brought them together more. "We do more things together now now that we have dogs," Kaichi said.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser Easter party Dress up your doggie and meet a new honey bunny? The Bark Park at Diamond Head Avenue is holding a potluck dinner and doggie Easter bonnet contest at 3 p.m. Saturday. |
They found immediate chemistry, even though she outweighs him and he's not really her type. Sometimes she cheats on him, but Bert doesn't seem to mind.
For a Great Dane named Princess Sandy, the doggie park along the slopes of Diamond Head is a great meeting place. It's where she found puppy love with Bert, the standard poodle.
And Sandy's owner, Macy Nelson, has made some good friends there herself.
The inside scoop on dog parks is that while the parks may be going to the dogs, they're also becoming the latest singles hangouts for the hounds' handlers. Seven years ago, the United States had only 20 dog parks. Now, they are growing at greyhound speed to more than 600. Pet stores and Internet sites tout the parks as ways for owners to free themselves from the anonymity of single life. Petsmart.com even has links to wedding pictures of dog owners who met at their pets' parks.
O'ahu has two bark parks — one on public land at Diamond Head Road and 18th Avenue, and the other run by the Hawaiian Humane Society at 2700 Wai'alae Ave. in Kaimuki. (The one in Kaimuki closes at 4 p.m., so Diamond Head has become the pau-hana social spot). Mililani put the leash on its dog park last month, rejecting a proposal to turn Kamaio Neighborhood Park into a park for pooches. But dog owners who are park regulars can't get enough of them.
"If somebody was looking to meet somebody and they had a dog, this is the place to go," said Nelson, 23, who has a boyfriend but still socializes at the Diamond Head park about five times a week. "You can walk in immediately and know you have something in common."
She and her boyfriend have made friends with another couple who bring their pet there. And since Nelson moved from Alabama to Makiki several months ago, she said, the park provided a perfect place to meet people with similar interests.
The parks have become more than a place for dogs to romp. Park bulletin boards are communication centers where people post messages seeking pet-friendly landlords and where social organizers list potluck parties.
Hillarie Hamilton, a flower shop keeper from Palolo, brings her two standard poodles, Willie and Chillie Pepper, to the Diamond Head park every day. Sometimes Hamilton sits and reads a book while they play. But she usually runs into someone she knows and spends the time chatting.
Even when she's away from the park, she recognizes the same people. "Now, everywhere I go, I have someone who says 'hi' to me," she said. "I don't always know their name, but I know their dog's name."
Bob Heath, a Saint Louis Heights retiree with dogs named Reason and Duger, says he is "sort of the head ranger" at the Diamond Head park. Though he's not single himself, Heath has seen some budding romances going on, like that between the owners of a dog named Jack and a huskie named Sasha.
"I'm not sure what state their relationship is, but when they travel, one takes care of the other's dog," he said. He approves of the park as a meeting place for singles.
It's actually better than a bar, he said, because "it doesn't require you to drink or inhale cigarette smoke."
Kai Ah Sam, 27, a single Honolulu firefighter, brings his girls — American pit-bull terriers Hoku and Mary — to both bark parks about once a week.
He swears he doesn't come to catch the singles scene. "That's the last thing that's on my mind coming over here," he said. "But dogs do help with that."
Reach Tanya Bricking at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8026.
