DUNEDIN, Fla. (WFLA) – A community dog park in Dunedin is bringing pet parents together.
Achieva Credit Union started the “Achieva Paw Park,” located at 1659 Achieva Way in Dunedin, in 2015, when employees saw residents walking their dogs in a vacant lot in the mornings and evenings.
“So someone said, ‘wouldn’t it be great if we had a dog park!’ So the idea was born and we had a few meetings and we got an architect involved. The park, a year later, was opened with a few trees, some fresh water for the dogs, a few benches and some fencing. It was half the size when we opened up in February 2016 as it is now,” facilities manager Vince Ionata said.
A few years after they opened, Ionata said the City of Dunedin came to them through a partnership and asked if they wanted to expand, as they were getting “a lot of requests.”
Within the next year, Achieva Paw Park expanded to around 1.2 acres with extra trees for shade, and reopened in 2019.
Tasha Cohen-Glynn, of the company’s marketing department, said around 100 to 150 people frequent the dog park with their pets each day.
“Honestly, I think it’s become a community gathering spot. There are times that I leave the building, and you would find 30 or 40 people just kind of – parents, puppy parents – standing around, having coffee, the dogs kind of running and doing their thing,” she said. “So I think it’s a community gathering spot. And I’m so excited that Achieva helped bring it to life.”
The area has become the community gathering spot it is now through the dog-friendly organization.
When Cohen-Glynn arrived to work on Wednesday with her pup, Sofia, she said the response was amazing.
“I promise you, everyone felt happy. I know it might sound weird but literally we all kind of came in, and it was all, ‘hi!’ it just brought so much life,” Cohen-Glynn said. “Dogs make you feel good and it helped us in our community, too.”
Cohen-Glynn said Achieva is creating community “one puppy at a time.”
