Every dog has its day - so why not spend it at the beach?
The popular Davis Islands dog park, the city's first with a beach, soon will undergo improvements.
The narrow strip of beachfront with magnificent views of downtown Tampa was made available a decade ago through an easement from the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority.
The 1.9-acre fenced site, however, has lost sand through the years. The city plans to replenish 200-plus feet of the coastline, but not before erosion safeguards are in place.
An offshore rip-rap barrier will be installed to reduce the impact of waves and boat wakes. Then tons of sand will be trucked in, said city landscape architect Laurie Potier-Brown.
The disappearing sand has not discouraged the park's two- and four-legged visitors.
Hyde Park resident Cynthia Davis and her two dogs often spend an hour or more at the beach.
It's a favorite haunt of the two mixed-breed dogs she adopted at animal shelters when they were pups.
"I have to do this all day," Davis said as she again prepared to hurl a tennis ball into Hillsborough Bay for 8-year-old Andre to retrieve. "Otherwise he'll just stand there and stare at me."
On a recent weekday, the Davis dogs enjoyed the company of Caesar, a playful miniature Doberman pinscher brought to the beach by Hank Ambrose, the father of Caesar's owner.
"We love it," Ambrose said. "He was chasing the other boys, the big boys."
George Wilkens
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