dog park equipment Dog Park Equipment at the Villas of Holly Broo

More and more residential complexes are adding Dog Park Equipment as an amenity for residents and there's one facility where it's now offered for Independent and Assisted Living customers.

The Villas of Holly Brook at Bradenton Cove in Illinois offer Independent, Assisted Living and Memory Care to its residents.

They feature several appealing amenities: studio apartments, individual climate control features, bistro café, salon services plus an array of social and recreational programs.

What makes The Villas even more unique is that the community is dog-friendly and provides a dog park for its residents with shaded seating for the dog owners. And for the dogs, a full array of dog park equipment provided by The Park and Facilities Catalog.

"We decided to add dog park equipment as many seniors have small dogs that they do not want to leave when they make a decision to move into an assisted living house," said Lola Drake, an interior decorator and staging director with Unique Homes in Charleston, IL which manages the facility.

What a fantastic service! Senior citizens certainly love their canine companions.

dog park bench Dog park benc

Lola explained, "We are a pet-friendly company and we also have in some of our buildings therapy dogs who visit residents."

The Villas of Holly Brook certainly go the extra mile when it comes to providing amenities for their residents.

As far as the dog park, adding a dog park playground is certainly a nice treat for Fido and Fifi.

The villas added the following dog park equipment pieces:

  • Teeter Totter
  • Small Dog Hoop Jump
  • Doggie Crawl tunnel
  • Rover Jump Over
  • Paws Bench
  • Doggie Trash Receptacle

"I like the styles and the fact it was easy to order," Lola added. "Shipping was direct to the building. I hope we can do this again!"

The benefits of Dog Park Equipment

Let's face it. Dogs were built to run and jump. It's in their DNA.

Unfortunately, many times they are confined indoors until they can get out either early in the morning or late in the evening for a walk.

With a dog park, they can run, jump and play all day. In addition, by adding dog park equipment the dogs now have their own playground to play in.

Most experts say that a dog needs at least an hour of exercise a day (this varies depending on the breed and size of the dog).

But they also need mental stimulation.

With dog park equipment they get both.

small dog hoop jump Small dog hoop jum

The dogs get a workout on the hurdles, see-saws, tunnels and jumps. But they also get the mental benefit of learning to use the equipment and the satisfaction when they master each piece.

Dog park equipment from The Park and Facilities Catalog is built for recreational play. The pieces are manufactured with tough, thick-gauge metal and covered with an attractive powder coating that resists rust and corrosion.

Some pieces of dog park equipment are covered with a special thermoplastic covering that is slip and urine resistant. You certainly want pieces of equipment where dog paws can get some sort of grip.

Another major benefit of dog park equipment is not for the dogs, but for the owners. Dogs love to hang out with their owners. Teaching a dog to use the dog playground equipment creates an opportunity for owners to spend more time with their pets and create a stronger bond.

How to use the dog playground equipment might seem obvious to owners, that's not always the case with canines. Most dogs will walk around a hurdle at first rather than jump over it. That's just their nature. But with a few treats and some encouragement, a dog can quickly learn the joy of jumping over hurdles or through hoops and crawling up a teeter-totter.

Here at The Park and Facilities Catalog we are seeing more and more housing communities adding dog park equipment. There's a reason for this - more people own dogs today than ever before.

According to the American Pet Products Association, there are 89.7 million dogs in the US in about 60 million households.

It's nice to see multi-family communities and even senior communities now making accommodations to not only add a place for dogs to play, but installing dog park equipment so they have something to play on.