Fitchburg Sunnyside Dog Park

06/06/2024

🐐 The goats are coming back to do some munching on invasives. 🍃 When they arrive, we’ll have the big section of the park closed until they are finished with their work. You can see them in action from the small exercise area and from Fish Hatchery Rd. Thanks for your understanding!

03/01/2024

🐾 Stay in the loop with Sunnyside Dog Park updates! 🌞
Sign up now for email and text notifications on park clean ups, closures, volunteer opportunities, and more. Click the link to subscribe: https://www.fitchburgwi.gov/list.aspx 📧📱

5520 Lacy RoadFitchburg, WI 53711 Phone: 608-270-4200 Fax: 608-270-4212 Hours: Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

11/11/2023

A beautiful morning at Sunnyside Park working with a volunteer crew to mulch the trails and trees and clean up the park. Thanks to all who helped make our amazing dog park a little better for all of its 2 legged and 4 legged (and some 3 legged) users. Special thanks to Diane and Laura for leading this effort. Thank you!

11/04/2023

📣Join us Saturday morning for a rain-or-shine "spruce up" of the park! We'll be spreading mulch across the paths and around the trees and can use all available park users to make quick work of it. See you there, 9-11 am!

08/29/2023

The Goats are coming back to do some late summer munching on invasives - we'll have the big section of the park open again soon once they are finished with their work. You can see them in action from the small exercise area and from Fish Hatchery Rd. Thanks for your understanding and we'll update you when the whole park is open again.
Thanks Goats for eating up the wild parsnip and burdock!

07/05/2023

Our furry goat friends are leaving the dog park this evening, and we will be again opening up the large area as soon as we are able, hopefully tomorrow. For those of you who missed them, the goats will be returning this fall for some additional munching/maintenance.
Thanks for your patience while we improve our park for you all!

06/30/2023

It's that time of year where we need to remind everyone that aggressive dogs and aggressive behaviors are not permitted. If your dog has been known to be aggressive at times, please do not put them in a situation like a dog park. We want everyone to be safe and free from aggressive behavior by dogs and people.

Also, remember that balls and toys can be REALLY appealing to other dogs in the park and can be a source of competition and aggression, so please refrain from bringing balls and toys to the park, and discontinue when you have drawn another dog's attention.
Report any aggressive behaviors to the Parks Department: 608-270-4288 or the police department: 608-270-4300. Thanks for helping us keep the park safe for you and your dogs.

06/28/2023

The goats are coming back tonight! They will be helping to eat and clear invasive plants and undergrowth in the wooded area. The large exercise area will be closed while the goats are at work, but feel free to come by and watch them eat up the parsnip leaves and honeysuckle from outside that area. Use care in the small dog area and let's make sure to make our visits shorter if people and dogs are waiting to get in. Thank you!

06/03/2023

🐐 Dog Park Users: the herd of goats is coming back in June! And this means when the goats are at the park, the LARGE AREA WILL BE CLOSED to all users. We expect this in the coming weeks and will post again when we have details.

The goats will again be helping us with invasive plant growth. People are welcome to observe them at work from outside of the fence and to use the smaller dog exercise area while the large area is closed to all visitors.

11/02/2022

The city received a report of a dog who was aggressively going after a puppy last night at the park. No reported injuries, but apparently this particular dog has been involved in at least 1 other incident. If anyone was witness to the incident involving the puppy, the pitbull and the pitbull's male owner at the park yesterday, can you please message us? We want to make sure aggressive behavior is not tolerated and that all park users 2 legged and 4 legged have a safe visit.

09/20/2022

Thank you to the volunteers this past weekend who helped clean-up the woods and take care of downed trees and limbs and invasive plants to make our trail through the woods nice again! Hard work but we all appreciate your efforts for our park!

08/24/2022

The large exercise area has reopened! The goats worked fast and have now left the park. Thank you all for your patience with this effort to clear invasive plants. See you at the park!

08/17/2022

🐐 Heads up Dog Park Users: the herd of goats is coming back! And this means the LARGE AREA WILL BE CLOSED later THIS WEEK. We will post again when we are back open.

The goats are helping us with invasive plant growth. People are welcome to observe them at work from outside of the fence and to use the smaller dog exercise area during this time.

06/20/2022

The large exercise area will re-open tomorrow, Monday. Thank you all for the patience and to the goats that helped us to control invasive plant growth. 🐐🌿

06/14/2022

🐐 Heads up Dog Park Users: the herd of goats has arrived and this means the large area is closed until further notice.
The goats are helping us with invasive plant growth. People are welcome to observe them at work from outside of the fence and to use the smaller dog exercise area during this time. And if you miss them, they're planning a return in 4-6 weeks depending on further growth.

05/27/2022

Volunteers replaced a memorial tree at Sunyside Park today and started fencing off trees we want to keep the goats from eating, along with removing some invasives. Our park looks amazing this time of year! Thank you to the staff at K & A greenhouse across the street who got us a discount on this replacement tree!

05/22/2022

🐐 Heads up Dog Park Users: Soon we will have a small herd of goats helping us with invasive plant growth. We will post again when we have the exact dates of the large area's closure in early June.

While the goats are present, the larger area will be closed for a few days. People are welcome to observe the goats at work from outside of the fence and to use the smaller dog exercise area during this time. Again, we will post more details on the dates soon.

04/21/2022

Good news pups! The Fitchburg Dog Park @ Sunnyside Park will re-open this weekend and Saturday we expect highs in the 70's!!!!! Thanks for your patience while we let the grass take hold and volunteers did some park maintenance. See you at Sunnyside!

03/10/2022

It's that time of year again where our dog park at Sunnyside is going to be really muddy. To preserve the turf and keep everyone safe during the thaw, the city is temporarily closing the park until we get some grass established to hold the turf together. Starting on Sunday 3/13 we will be closing down the dog park for a few weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience but it is so we can maintain the park that we all love.
See you later this spring!

Other good news at the park:
1) we are working on getting a water fountain installed at the park so we can have clean water on site for dogs and their people.
2) we will be bringing in a team of goats to eat up invasive plants later this spring/summer. More details to come!

07/13/2021

3 years ago Sunnyside Park was opened! More improvements to come in the next year thanks to the FDPA and all of the generous donors to the park. A true community success story.

The “leash” has been cut on Sunnyside Park, Fitchburg’s first dog park, after more than three years of planning.