Dog day afternoon: Four-legged swimmers take over Splash Zone in Ephrata

EPHRATA — Usually at Splash Zone in Ephrata all you can see is parents watching their kids closely and safeguarding against potential danger. On Monday, however, the babies the adults were watching over in the pool were covered in fur and had four legs. The city decided to open the park up to dogs and their owners for the first time on Labor Day, a decision that proved popular as Splash Zone was packed.

“When I first saw a post about this thing on Facebook I kind of wrote it off. But my kids convinced me to bring our dogs and it’s actually going over pretty well. I haven’t seen a single fight break out between the dogs. I almost wonder if it’s too good to be true,” Penny Harris remarked with a laugh.

From St. Bernards to golden retrievers, German shepherds and Chihuahuas, dogs big and small took advantage of the large space to run around in and huge pool to relax in. The opening up of Splash Zone to dogs is a new thing for the park and any future occurrences of four-legged swimmers hinges on the success of Monday’s experiment.

“This is new to our community, but we have been able to utilize the wisdom of others who put on the same event,” Ephrata officials previously stated.

The slides were closed. As were the diving boards. But that didn’t matter to the dogs and their owners. The canines had a blast simply milling around in the water, chasing tennis balls, experiencing new smells and putting their doggy-paddling skills to good use.

“This is literally the first time Teagan (a 6-month old golden retriever) has been in the water. So we are hoping she can kind of watch the other dogs and get the hang of it. I like this because it’s so shallow and not quite as intimidating as going to a lake or river for a dog’s first time in the water,” Brenda Carlile commented.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.