Howl-elujah!
Prospect Park’s Dog Beach is back open after two months of reconstruction — and with a few weeks of summer still to spare!
Kings County canines had to go without the popular swimming spot for the hottest part of the year while workers prettied-up the pond, and are thrilled to be able to enjoy an even-better lagoon for the remainder of the season, according to their owners.
“She really missed it, she was hot all summer,” said Park Sloper Maud Andrew of her Australian cattle dog Rocket. “It’s very nice to have it back. It looks very nice.”
The Prospect Park Alliance — private advocacy group that works with the city to maintain the green space — closed the pooch pool in July to accommodate the reconstruction, which it expected to take until spring next year. But workers finished ahead of schedule, according to spokeswoman Grace McCreight, and dog-owners were greeted with an even more charming wading pool on Thursday morning.
The in-house lake-scaping team rid the pond of invasive plants and replaced them with native species in order to create a more harmonious living environment for the area’s fish, reptiles, and avian residents, she said.
They also swapped ugly stone slabs and boulders around the body of water with more attractive rocks, and switched the chain-link fence that cordons off the doggy-paddling portion of the lake to a more pet-friendly cable-and-mesh alternative.
It looks perfect, but for one thing, said Andrew.
“They should have added a little diving board,” she said.
Park-going pups had nowhere to swim while the Dog Beach was under the shovel, as the meadow’s other pooch-approved pool in Prospect Park Lake is closed due to an algae infestation that is deadly to pets.
The Dog Beach renovations were funded as part of a larger, $2.6-million project that includes fix-ups to the neighboring Long Meadow baseball fields.
The beach is accessible to pooches and their owners during the park’s early-morning and nighttime off-leash hours, which are from 7 am to 9 am and after 9 pm.
