Kris Kringle at the Dog Park

By Narelle Gurney

On 16 December, 18 dogs and their many humans gathered at the Helensburgh dog park for an end-of-year celebration.

The occasion was marked with drinks, nibblies and presents for the dogs. Each person put a present valued at $10 into the Santa sack. The dogs’ names were put into a bag and as each dog’s name was drawn and called out, an excited human came up to pull a gift from the lucky dip sack.

The atmosphere was buzzing and barking. There were lots of positive comments and people who hadn’t heard about the event said they wanted to come to the next one. It’s said that Christmas is about ‘connection’ and the dog park has been a significant point of connection for many people.

One woman said: “During lockdown, I only saw my husband and the people at the dog park, so the dog park was very important to me.”

The dog Kris Kringle idea was inspired by my desire to make community connections. I work for The Salvation Army in community development, so this is important to me.

Besides the fun the dogs have, the dog park is really is a place for community and we look forward to more good times there in 2022 and to meeting new people and their canine friends.