A walk in the park: finding space in your park for pooches to call home can prove to be challenging.

Whether you work for a small, rural community or a large, bustling city, chances are that citizens have asked for park land to create a dogpark. The phenomenon is one that won't go away anytime soon--according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, 43.5 million households in the United States own a dog. The Web site dogpark.com lists more than 700 dogparks across the country, with more being created every day.

Even the American Veterinary Medical Association recently added the topic of dogparks to its annual conference, suggesting that veterinarians discuss these parks with dog owners at annual check-ups because they've become such a regular part of a pet's day.

But with the call to create more dogparks for pets, where can park and recreation managers find the space in communities where land is often at a premium?

Some park and recreation departments are solving the problem by buying vacant land, and creating a usable dogpark area where nothing existed before, rather than setting aside land in an already established park.

Such was the case near Detroit, Mich., in a small suburb of 2,400 called Pleasant Ridge, where five years ago city commissioners turned a piece of property that was left over from the widening of a highway into a dog run. The community was pleased, and the small space created a haven for dog owners to unleash their pets.

Scott Pietrzak, recreation commissioner for Pleasant Ridge says, "People were going on the property anyway, so we thought we could use it as another outlet for people to recreate with their dogs."

Unfortunately, because of the small space and the overwhelming popularity, the park became overused and other issues such as parking, noise and dust became a problem for neighborhood residents. They've complained about noise, lack of clean-up and even privacy issues, where dog run users were parking in front of their houses or using their water spigots for their dogs.

"All of sudden it took off," Pietrzak says. "It got crowded fast, making traffic for residents unbearable."

In response, the city tried to alleviate these issues by creating a fee system, and even installing a screen to block dirt and dust from coating neighboring houses. Pietrzak says the fee system has taken away about 50 percent of the usage, helping the parking problems. The screens were put up in direct response to the neighborhood complaints, and he says that his department has continued to work with residents.

The real issue though, is that the town has no other option for a dogpark. After a highway construction project took about 60 percent of the town's park land about 20 years ago, this seemed like the most viable option for present-day residents.

"We just don't have that type of land here," Pietrzak explains. He suggests that dog owners can also use larger, county dogparks, such as the Orion Oaks Bark Park in the northern part of Oakland County, Mich., that offers larger space at 14 acres and many more amenities such as dog trails and even dog swimming.

Many other towns look to this regional approach to solve its space issues as well. When it can't provide space in small communities, residents can travel to a larger county or regional dogpark with their pets.

In Boone County, Ky., the Boone County Dog Park finally opened in late 2006 after two years of fundraising by residents. The regional dogpark offers five acres of land with four different areas for a variety of different dogs, as well as frost-free hydrants, which come in handy when temperatures dip low.

Director of Parks for Boone County Dave Whitehouse says that this style of creating a large dogpark for the region fits into the department's philosophy. Instead of maintaining neighborhood parks spread out across the area, Boone County creates larger spaces where residents can recreate. The county of 108,000 is also the fastest-growing county in the state, which means the demand for more park space continues to be an issue.

"Our first goal with the dogpark was to just get one open--with the rate of growth we have here, trying to build one in everyone's neighborhood just didn't make sense," Whitehouse explains.

Though residents may have to drive 15 miles to reach it, Whitehouse hasn't seen any indication that the dogpark won't be used. After only being open for two weeks in freezing temperatures (the opening day temperature topped at 13 degrees), crowds continue to grow. The dogpark has even been visited by the mayor of a small town nearby called Rabbit Hash, who just happens to be a dog himself named Junior.

In Waukesha County, Wisc., the area's first dogpark is still in planning stages, but park and recreation managers also decided on a county approach, rather than pocket dog runs in smaller communities. The county of about 350,000 was seeing non-compliance with leash laws in parks, so decided to combat user conflicts by creating a separate off-leash area. The first will be at Minooka Park, with 18 acres for dogs to run.

"We wanted to identify roles and responsibilities of the county so there would be less duplication of effort," says Jim Kavemeier, park system manager for Waukesha County. "Maybe communities shouldn't provide dogparks because they are too small and run into too many maintenance costs, especially with surfacing."

He also reasons that many communities don't have enough space, while his county parks have acres of open areas where they can incorporate off-leash dogparks. The Minooka Dog Park is scheduled to open in September of 2007, with another county dogpark already in planning stages.

Even when cities or communities seemingly have enough space, sometimes park and recreation departments need to look at how to better use the area. For instance, in New York City there are more than 40 dogparks located across the city, however, the firs-fever dogpark built in the city at Tompkins Square Park is re-examining how the tired space can be better used.

New York City Parks and Recreation partnered with Friends of First Run in 2006 to begin $150,000 of renovations in the dogpark. Rather than look for new space and create something from scratch, the city decided to revamp the First Run dogpark with the latest trends and design.

The biggest undertaking has been a new, state-of-the-art running surface that is easier on a dog's paws and hips. The organic surface also works to keep the dust to a minimum and deodorizes the area. Additional features include separate entrances, running water, dog baths, lighting and seating.

Rather than finding new space, the park and recreation department will instead work to change the ones it already has.

As Pietrzak says, "Dogparks aren't just for animals, but for people too. It really is about finding space where people have the options to recreate however they want."