By Chris Gomez | Little Italy News

San Diego’s Little Italy is a premier neighborhood for all things food, shopping, culture and a hip place for our four-legged friends. Our resident pooches are getting some love and will get to experience some upgrades to a new and improved Little Italy Dog Park at Amici Park.

The new development will be open for play on Monday, May 1. As a result of the successful fundraising campaign, over 2,000 dogs that call Little Italy home will now have a new and improved place to come and play in the neighborhood.

The many dogs that stroll the streets of Little Italy everyday watch us enjoy our café lattes and bowls of pasta al fresco in the neighborhood and now a man’s best amici (friend) will also have a place to enjoy in the heart of Little Italy, too.

The Little Italy Association of San Diego (LIA) has been working to fundraise for park improvements for the last year. The park creates a place for the pups of the neighborhood to run off leash separate from the children’s playgrounds, giving pets and owners a safe place to socialize and exercise with other dogs in the park throughout the day.

The renovated dog park within Amici Park is equipped with secure fencing, water features, shaded seating, two beautiful mimosa trees, improved landscaping and 6,100 square feet of K9 grass for the pups to play. Thanks to a fundraising campaign and support from the community, the LIA was able to implement these improvements and also maintain the park — keeping the area clean.

Community members that supported the fundraising campaign are being honored at the Little Italy Dog Park in multiple ways, including “paw pavers” and medallions, which will be installed in the park. Paw pavers are engraved bricks that will be installed along the paw path that include the names of donors and their beloved dog’s name, sharing the bond with their pet with the neighborhood. Medallions are engraved charms that will be displayed at the entrance of the dog corral.

One of our most generous donors, American National Investments, Inc., donated funds in honor of Gordie Howe, the late dog of its CEO and board chair, Gina Champion-Cain. The funds will be used to install a permanent water feature and will also fund the first two-thirds of the new K9Grass by ForeverLawn. The Gordie water station will allow dogs and their owners to drink from and cool off on hot days. Other notable donors include County Supervisor Ron Roberts.

The brand new Little Italy Dog Park is making Little Italy even more dog friendly! To find out more information about the dog park, visit LittleItalyDogPark.com.

To stay connected with us, check out what’s going on in our neighborhood by following us on Instagram and Twitter @LittleItalySD and Facebook/San Diego Little Italy.

—Christopher Gomez has been Little Italy’s district manager since 2000. Reach him at [email protected].