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Brookhaven to open its first dog park

BY ERIK GERMAN | erik.german@newsday.com

11:54 PM EDT, October 17, 2007

The answer to the question, "Who let the dogs out?" might just be "Brookhaven."

The Brookhaven town council this week reversed a decades-long policy banning man's best friend from all town parks, and created a four-acre spot in Middle Island where they will be allowed to roam off-leash.

The new park, on Middle Country Road across from Artist's Lake, will be completed by early winter, and will boast a three-quarter acre fenced corral for smaller pups and a three-acre enclosure where the big dogs will run, said town Parks Commissioner Jim LaCarrubba. The rest of the town's parks will remain off-limits to dogs, he said.

LaCarrubba -- himself the owner of a 9-year-old Maltese named Tiki -- said Brookhaven is responding to a growing demand from dog owners. "They've been telling us that this is something they really want to see," he said, adding that the town has its eye on other parcels to convert into dog parks should the first one prove a success.

Pooch parents applauded Tuesday's town board vote creating the facility. It was "quite a momentous occasion," said Gina Lewis, president of Suffolk County Unleashed, an owner group that has successfully pushed for dog parks in Huntington and Smithtown.

In the past, Lewis said she had to drive as much as 45 minutes out of town to give her Jack Russell terrier, Lil' Dude, an off-leash walk.

Before now, Lewis said, "there was really no place to properly exercise your pup" in Brookhaven.

But not just anyone can turn up, canine in tow, at the new park. Only holders of a official "Pooch Pass" can set foot, or paw, in the new facility. The town-issued passes will cost $25 a year for residents, $45 for nonresidents and $5 for each dog added to the permit.

Rules for the new park require collars and licenses for all visiting dogs, place a limit of two dogs per person per visit, enjoin female dogs in heat to stay home, and, of course, insist that all owners be scrupulous about scooping poop.