ABOUT US

OUR MISSION IS SIMPLE

To be the ONE source for dog information in the area

A staple among dog owners In Fountain Hills and the surrounding areas since 1998, ADOG (the Association of Dog Owners Group), is a not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to improve the lives of our canine companions at home and at play and to engage the community at large through better communication with the Town of Fountain Hills and neighbors.

HISTORY

History of ADOG and the Fountain Hills Off Leash Recreational Facility (OLRF)

It all began on March 29^th, 1998 when a meeting was held between 19 concerned dog owners and residents plus Al Lorenz, a Fountain Hills Parks Commissioner. The purpose of the meeting was to see what could be done to get the town to establish a permanent dog park of sufficient size for the demographics of the town. A sense of urgency was created because the Town Council was intending to eliminate early morning off leash use of the Golden Eagle baseball field where many residents let their dogs run free.

In mid-April of 1998 the first organized group meeting was held to establish a “dog club” and the name “Association of Dog Owners Groups” (ADOG), was chosen. About 10 people attended the meeting and the first Board of Directors was elected comprised of Dan Regard, Cloud Downey, Morton Mitchell, Hillary Quinton, Phil Gollon, and Ken O’Hara. A set of by-laws for the club was codified and a Mission Statement was also written at this time. Following the initial meeting, a call for membership in ADOG resulted in 24 families joining in at a cost of $20.00/yr dues.

To help justify land for a dedicated dog park, Parks and Recreation Dep’t Director, Robin Goodman, asked two ADOG members, Kim Marshburn and Hillary Quinton, to prepare a research report on dog parks. It culminated in a detailed “white paper” called “Report on Off-Leash Recreational Facility (OLRF) for Fountain Hills” and was delivered at the June ’98 Parks and Recreation meeting. The report was endorsed by the majority of Parks Commissioners and recommended to the Town Council for the establishment of a permanent OLRF in Fountain Hills.

From the period of April ’98 through September ’98 a major controversy brewed between those favoring the establishment of a dog park and those Fountain Hills residents who were adamantly opposed. In the end, the Town Council voted overwhelmingly on Sept 14th, 1998 to establish a 3-3.5 acre facility designated “Desert Vista Off-Leash Recreational Facility (OLRF)”.

....HISTORY CONTINUED

The cost of creating the OLRF was shared by a number of legal entities and districts in the town. The Sanitary District needed an additional disposal site for discharging treated wastewater so they agreed to fund the landscaping, grading, seeding, and the watering system. The park land was donated by MCO to the Town, originally as a potential school site but later it became designated for a park. The town paid $18,000 for fencing the facility.

The Fountain Hills OLRF was opened for business on December 11th 1999, approximately 20 months from the establishment of ADOG, which was formally incorporated as an Arizona non-profit a few months later in March 2000. Since incorporation, ADOG has raised thousands of dollars in donations to fund improvements to the OLRF and to help dogs throughout the greater Phoenix area when a need arises.

In the early years ADOG contributed towards the multi-station watering fountains, shade structures and lighting that make our park the best in the valley. More recent ADOG projects include the installation of a “Handicapped & Seniors Only” bench by the entrance to the large/active dog area and over 10 other benches located throughout the parks, replacement of three large shade structures that the Town removed due to wear, installation of a secondary fence along the bottom of the chain link fencing around the park to keep snakes and toads from entering the park, Safety and Informational signage around the park, sight barriers and fencing in the Small/Passive area and a concrete “Splash Pad” in the large/active dog side where dogs can cool off when it’s hot. Owners can rinse dirt and mud from their dogs before going home. ADOG also sponsors Rattlesnake and Sonoran Toad aversion training classes, and low-cost or free micro-chipping events and has participated in the annual “Halloween in the Hills”, “Paws in the Park”, and other community events as well as working closely with local dog rescues and shelters as the need arises.

All ran smoothly with ADOG for many years until neighbors to the East of the park began complaining about noise. Most of the noise and barking seemed to come from the interaction between the large and small dogs and dogs barking at people on the street. ADOG solved the problem by installing “sight barriers” between the two sections of park and along the North side fence, plus a fence was installed on the inside of the small dog area to keep dogs from jumping up on the planters that separate the two park areas.

ADOG is a non-profit organization whose primary purpose is to improve the lives of our canine companions at home and play. As the “official” liaison between the Dog Park and the Town, we are the “ears” of the Park and provide feedback through better communication with the Town and the community at large. We receive no money from the Town or operational grants. We rely solely on dues, fundraisers, and tax-free personal donations.

BOARD MEMBERS

Denise Dunning-Ricketts President

[email protected]
480 848-3777

I was born in Chicago and moved to the Arcadia area when I was eleven. As kids, my brother and I had horses, a goat, a cow, rabbits, cats and dogs. I don’t know of a time since I left home that I didn’t have an animal.

Moving to Fountain Hills after living for 23 years in Massachusetts, I started to take my two dogs to the Dog Park. I found such a wonderful community of dog-loving people who decided to become further engaged. I was also on the Board of Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center for 3 years, and for a brief time walked dogs for Rescue Pals here in Fountain Hills, since have made sure that ADOG was an avid supporter not only of Rescue Pals but also for the Arizona Humane Society, especially during their extreme times of need.

Professionally, my family is one of the oldest restaurant families in the country, I managed several restaurants and owned “The Restaurant” in Carlsbad, CA, named one of the finest French restaurants in southern California. Moving from California, back to Scottsdale, I opened a Marketing and Public Relations company, representing two of the finest restaurants in Phoenix at that time. Upon returning to Arizona from Massachusetts, I acquired my real estate license, and I currently work with MCO Realty on the Avenue in Fountain Hills.

Bill Hindman Vice-President Emeritus

Bill Hindman, ADOG’s Vice-President Emeritus, has been a staple on ADOG’s Board of Directors for over a dozen years while serving under the past three ADOG Presidents. Originally from the Chicago area, Bill and his wife Kathie moved to Fountain Hills full time with their Black Lab Kizo when they both retired around 2005 - Bill from the industrial ad agency he owned and Kathie from her family’s 50-year old Bar/Restaurant business. Although Kizo has long past, he was replaced by Gracie and Kellie, two white “lab-looking” dogs, that were adopted from Calexico on the California/Mexico border 8 or 9 years ago when they were about 1-1/2 years old and, along with Bill, are frequent visitors to the dog park

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