Jaymi Sowder, a Woodland resident since 2020, has been bullied by her two dogs into championing efforts for a dog park in the south Cowlitz County community.
“My dogs have honestly bullied me into it,” Sowder joked. “I do take them to the normal park all the time, and it’s just a little bit too far, and I can’t always get out there.”
Sowder believes the Woodland community would see a “super benefit” from adding a dog park to the city. Sowder explained that the biggest factor in starting a petition and gaining support for the idea is the socialization of both the dog and the owner.
“My dogs are social to like a fault where they’ll go up to anybody,” she said. “They don’t care if they don’t want to be friends. My dogs are going to be friends. So I think it would be super beneficial to the community just to have something local where dogs can go and make friends.”
Sowder’s vision for a dog park is modest — she’s simply hoping for a fenced-in area where pets can safely run and play.
“My standards are going to stay low on this because you could do so many things with a dog park,” Sowder said. “You could put in water features. You could have obstacle courses, trees, things for them to run, jump and play in. But ideally, just a nice fenced-in place is just what I want. It doesn’t need anything fancy —just somewhere people can go so their dogs can run around and have fun. Dogs are not picky.”
Sowder, now 31, and having lived in Woodland for around five years, knows dog owners of all ages would thoroughly enjoy a dog park.
Her whole goal with the petition is to ultimately present the idea, with support backing her cause, to the Woodland City Council either in December or January, she said.
For her efforts to gain support via a petition, Sowder has posted QR code links at the Woodland Library, Woodland Post Office and in the window at Crow Moon Coffee. A physical petition can also be found at Hometown Pets.
Sowder’s goal is 200 signatures on the digital petition; as of Friday, Oct. 24, the petition has 147. The petition can be accessed at c.org/zC7gBstswH.
