LEWISTON — They are park regulars. 

Friendly Chloe. Happy Otis. Tara, who isn’t sure strangers should be trusted. Jacob, who is pretty sure they should.

A hound mix here, a pug there — and their humans.

“It’s really peaceful,” said Judy Harris, who brings Jacob, a shih tzu-Maltese mix, to the park several times a week so he can play with other dogs and she can chat with their owners. “It relaxes me to start out my day.”

In the summer of 2010, the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society turned an empty lot into Robin’s Garden and Dog Park, Lewiston-Auburn’s only park reserved for canines. Five years later, the acre of land has become a popular gathering spot, drawing 80 to 100 dogs on nice-weather weekends and a steady stream of traffic weekdays. 

“Even though I’ve got a fenced-in backyard, they still like to come here and sniff and see their friends,” said Pamela Coulter of Auburn, who brings Chloe, a shih tzu-poodle mix, and her granddog, schnauzer-poodle Bailey, to the park almost every day.

Located on Strawberry Avenue in Lewiston, between the animal shelter and the Animal Emergency Clinic of Mid-Maine, the fenced-in park is divided into two sections: one for small dogs and one for large dogs. Each side has a gazebo, chairs, trees, boulders and a wide, grassy space. 

The park has remained largely unchanged since opening day five years ago.  Except for the lack of a water fountain — the shelter can’t afford to put in a water pipe right now, so visitors have to bring their own water or get it from the shelter next door — visitors say the park is just about perfect.

“It’s here, it’s wide open, it’s got a side for big dogs and little dogs. And shade,” said Kelley Devereaux, who lives in Lewiston and frequently brings her pug, Tara. “That it’s here is a wonderful thing.”

Over the years, a kind of canine community has developed. The basic rules of entry and etiquette: “When you come in, you have to be sniffed. Then you sniff,” Coulter said.

“The dogs get to know each other,” she said. “Chloe and Bailey will howl and whatnot to the dogs they really know well. They did that to Tara when Tara came in (today).”

Some owners say the socialization has helped their dogs.

Otis, a Bernese mountain dog mix, goes to the park two or three times a week. He used to be shy around strange dogs and people. Not so much since he started going to the park.

“He’s learning how to play with dogs a little bit more,” said owner Sare Gebhardt of Lewiston. “Coming here, he gets exposed to all sorts.”

The park provides a community for humans, too.

Harris kept a list of everyone she made friends with since she started bringing Jacob to the park a year and a half ago. She was up to 40 names before a technical glitch deleted it from her cellphone. 

“We know almost everybody,” she said.

On one recent Wednesday morning, she, Coulter and Devereaux sat on plastic chairs under the shade of a tree in the little dog section of the park. They chatted as they watched their dogs romp through the yard. 

“We always talk about dogs,” Coulter said. “If any of us have a problem, we’ll run it by everybody and see what everybody else thinks about it. Who’s the best vet, who’s the best groomer in town and around. We talk about dogs all the time. I’ve learned more about dogs just by coming here than I would have in years and years and years of having a dog.”

The tight-knit community has proven good for the park. Although shelter volunteers take care of upkeep, visitors are largely on their own to police the place and make sure everyone follows the rules: Clean up after your dog, don’t leave your dog alone in the park and don’t bring an aggressive dog. 

“It’s really important that people work with people that are new to the park,” said Zach Black, operations manager for the humane society. “It’s just important that they work together to keep it a happy, positive place.”

So far, problems have been few. Although dogs sometimes snap at each other, true fights — between humans or dogs — are rare, visitors said.

Sometimes that’s despite bending the rules. When Steven Thanos asked if his hound-mix, Sally, could join the dogs in the small dog area, Harris, Coulter and Devereaux waved him over. At 35 pounds, Sally was classified as a big dog, but no one else was on that side of the park. She was lonely.  

Timid Sally turned out to be a good match in the small dog yard.

“Everyone’s pretty friendly — and the dogs, for the most part, are pretty friendly, too,” said Thanos, of Lewiston, as Chloe, Tara, Jacob and Bailey ran to greet Sally.

Visitors spend anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours at the park. Usually it depends on how long the dogs want to play. Their humans are OK with that.

“They go home and take a nice long nap,” Coulter said. “They’re happy for the rest of the day.”

Have an idea for Animal Tales? Call Lindsay Tice at 689-2854 or email her at ltice@sunjournal.com.

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