Riverview’s newest library is going to the dogs — and they couldn’t be happier.
On Thursday, Mason the brown border collie took his time browsing the offerings at the new stick library at Mill Creek Nature Park, before finally selecting a slender white birch.
He paraded it proudly — dropping it several times — before returning it like a very good boy.
The return of the stick did cost his owner Ash Arrowsmith a treat — or a few.
Arrowsmith, Riverview’s community recreation co-ordinator, saw the idea online and worked with his team to bring a stick library to his town.
“The idea is that, you know, folks come in, if a dog’s interested in grabbing a stick while they’re walking on leash, they can take one and then hopefully they bring it back.”
He said unlike other libraries, there are no penalties if dogs don’t return the sticks on time — or at all. It’s simply there to invite dogs and their owners to enhance their experience.
“It brings a smile to people’s faces that are coming into the park and I think to the dogs as well.”
Arrowsmith said his five-year-old daughter, like many children, loves to collect sticks. He hopes the kids visiting the park can also help with the re-stocking, he said.
“We kind of think that between the dogs and little people that are in the park, we think, it’ll be, you know, fully stocked all the time.”
Arrowsmith also suggests it helps in tick prevention, as a stocked library reduces the need for the canines to go off the trail, looking for a perfect stick.
Hope Trites said she saw the idea online and was thinking of installing a library in her front yard for her dog Ducky and others.
“It’s a good way to meet your neighbours with dogs because they’ll stop and grab something. So I think it’s, I think it’s great,” said Trites.
The Town of Riverview has installed a dog stick library at the Mill Creek Nature Park. There are no fines for late returns, but dogs are responsible for restocking the inventory.
Paul Timmerman and his dog Koda were visiting from Ontario.
“I’ve seen, you know, seen the book libraries, but never dog stick. I think it’s a great idea,” he said.
“It’s a good start. I hope it takes off. It would be great for the dogs.”
Dr. Pierrette Mercier, a veterinarian at the Riverview Animal Health Centre, said sticks can help in stimulating dogs, both physically and mentally.
They can help enhance a dog’s mood by imitating predation or acting on its pleasure and reward system.
“[A dog] is just imagining that the stick is a rabbit or something like that,” she said.
Mercier said although it’s a good mood booster, dog owners must be responsible and alert while their dog chooses a stick.
She said injuries are possible if a dog goes for a bigger stick that may end up hurting them.
“I’ve seen very small dogs trying to carry around a very large branch … so sometimes we have to redirect them, give them a smaller stick.”
Mercier said if the owners are monitoring their dogs, the positives can outweigh the negatives.
“Forbidding a child to play hockey because there’s a risk of him getting injured, you know, the mental and physical stimulation they do get from playing is probably, you know, more important than the risk of injuring themselves,” she said.
