As an Urban Planner, my focus is on the integration of companion animals (in particular dogs) into the urban environment. How do we integrate dogs into the urban environment? First, you need a good understanding of dogs: how they learn, how they interact with each other and with humans and understanding of their needs. Second,

Before you develop an enclosed dog park – experience the space. A lot can be learnt from experiencing the space first hand. A site visit can be an invaluable part of your research and you can  learn a lot about: interactions within the park (dog-dog, dog-human and human-human interactions) who uses a dog park type

The Australia-wide dog park survey has reached over 500+ responses. We are extending the survey to the end of February, 2014. We are now aiming for 800+ responses. Thank you to all those people who have taken the time to fill in the survey. So far, we have a good sample of responses from each

Australia-Wide Dog Park Survey. We need over 500+ completed surveys. We only have 225. Help us! Fiona De Rosa from Balancing Act Adelaide is working with Dr Susan Hazel and Dr Lisel O’Dwyer from The University of Adelaide to conduct research into how people exercise their dogs, particularly in dog parks. The University has collected

Where is South Australia’s first enclosed Dog Park? [soliloquy slug=”coonalypn”] This sounds like a simple question. However, Balancing Act Adelaide have taken some time to unearth  South Australia’s first fenced dog park. After 25 dog park audits, we believe the first dog park was built in 1995 at Coonalypn in the Coorong District Council. The

  Dog Parks may seem like a simple concept. However, they are far more complex than putting a chain-mesh fence around a vacant piece of land. The recent article “Restrictions on Popular Park” in The Courier (Newspaper of the Adelaide Hills, Wednesday, 16 October, 2013) highlights some of the issues that the Adelaide Hills Council

Fiona De Rosa and her dog EB from Balancing Act Adelaide are featured in the recent edition of Dogs Life Magazine – the edition with X Factor’s Luke Jacobz on the cover. The article “Don’t Fence me In” written by Caroline Zambrano focuses on Australia cities  and the public and private spaces accommodating our pets.

Over the last 12 months we’ve observed and analyzed the interactions within dog parks. These include: dog-dog, dog-human and human-human interactions. How many Landscape Architects and other open space designers consider dog behaviour in their design process? We go further than the commonly reported human conversations and connections made in dog parks to incorporating dog

  Dog Park maintenance can be expensive for local government, but community are getting involved in maintenance programs. The Alexandrina Council has a program where community members adopt a Dog Waste Bag Dispenser, who are responsible for refilling the bags. This program has been in operation since 2004 and have some 40 dispensers located within

What is a dog park? What are their benefits and limitations? Do we need them? Do they work?  Who uses  them? There are so many questions and so little information to guide the planning, design and management of these parks. Dog parks are not new. They have been around in the United States for over