In Lake County, dogs in need of wide-open spaces can frolic in two exercise areas set aside especially for them, a service so popular that a third dog area is in the works.
The Lake County Forest Preserve District operates the fenced-in areas, one near Libertyville and the other near Wauconda, where dogs are free to run without a leash.
Dog owners have clamored for entrance to the areas, and this year bought 1,800 permits good for either location. But district officials have stopped issuing the permits to avoid overcrowding.
“There is a tremendous demand for people who want to let their dogs off-leash and run,” said Brian Hallwas, the district’s director of operations.
To answer this demand, Hallwas is planning a third facility in the Prairie Wolf Slough Forest Preserve near Bannockburn. The district already has set aside $35,000 to create the new facility, which might be ready in a year.
The third facility could serve dog owners from Highland Park, Lake Forest and Deerfield.
Based on parking, the current dog exercise areas reached capacity in June, Hallwas said.
“We decided not to sell any more annual passes,” he said. “We did not want to put ourselves in an overflow situation.”
Annual passes sell for $25 to county residents and $50 to non-residents. Daily passes are still available for $2.50 for residents and $5 for non-residents.
For dogs that love to swim, the 30-acre dog exercise area near Libertyville is a logical choice. It has a large pond, along with five acres of field and 2 1/2 miles of trail.
Joey Hazelton of Wildwood watches her terrier paddle furiously in the pond, racing toward anything tossed in the water.
“She just learned to swim, so all she wants to do is swim,” Hazelton said. “She’ll spend a half an hour out there without touching the ground.”
Some dog owners at the Libertyville facility said some dogs at the Wauconda area are unruly or aggressive.
Kimberleigh Gorham of Round Lake, who takes her pets to Wauconda, disagrees.
“It’s for people who are just as kookie as I am and love dogs,” she said. “And the fact that we don’t have to worry about leash laws.”
The Wauconda facility offers 15 acres, which includes trails and large open fields. It also has bathroom facilities, for people, unlike the Libertyville site. The Wauconda facility opened in October 1997.
Its only major drawback, say dog owners, is a lack of drinking water for the dogs.
Dog-lovers there say they choose the Wauconda site because of poor behavior by owners and dogs at Libertyville.
Both groups of dog owners had one thing in common–a concern for a fungal infection discovered in two dogs that had used the Libertyville facility in 1996. One became so ill it was put to sleep.
The dogs were sickened by blastomycosis, a disease contracted from fungus that grows in moist soil in wooded areas in the central and southeastern United States. Spore-laden dust is inhaled, infecting the lungs, skin, eyes, nose, bones and central nervous system.
The forest preserve notified permit-holders of the illnesses in 1996, said Andrew Kimmel, the district’s director of environmental education and public affairs. With that information, dog owners could decide whether to continue visits to the area, he said.
No illnesses have been reported since 1996, he added.
