Dog park creates extended families

Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2002 | 9:06 a.m.

When Robert Gonzaga lost his best friend, Eriq, he had 25 buddies to console him and help him look for the white Maltese.

The fellow dog-walkers from Woofter Dog Park at Rock Springs and Vegas drives flew into action, putting up posters, scouring animal shelters daily and keeping an eye out for the 3-year-old male as they drove to work and in the neighborhood.

Now they are waiting for a miracle.

Monday night at the dog park they had a candlelight vigil for Eriq, missing since Aug. 16 from his yard near Cheyenne Avenue and Michael Way. He had still not been found.

"Most people think it's just a dog, but for me, I get emotional when I think of him," Gonzaga said.

His Woofter friends understand, and their vigil reflects a new type of community that has developed with the building of dog parks in the Las Vegas Valley: dog lovers who meet during morning and evening strolls with their canines. They meet in all seasons. When it's cooler on Saturdays, sometimes they stay for hours.

Friends gathered Monday night in canvas chairs placed in a semi-circle, holding their candles, while the dogs chased each other in a neighboring fenced area. The people had their water bottles, the dogs had their water bowls.

"The dogs along with the owners have become very special to one another," Gonzaga said. "We go out, we've become friends."

It goes beyond the shared heartbreak of a lost dog. When one of the dog park walkers went to the hospital, she called the group for support, a fellow dog walker said.

Donna Clark, recovering after her hospital stay, attended the vigil Monday night.

"Eriq is my dog child," Clark said. "He brought me flowers for Christmas and for Mother's Day."

Clark's three Italian greyhounds -- Houdini, Jada and Lexi -- ran around the park greeting a dozen other pooches. Lexi is a mother to the other two.

"Lexi met her man here, and they had some dates at home and then all of a sudden these little ones came," Clark said.

The owners know the dogs' names and personalities before they know each other. Miss Barb's "Chiqui" likes to sing, but there was no harmonica around Monday night to demonstrate.

Gentleman Oby's Boston terrier "Bandit" is a thief in the night. "Watch out," one of the owners whispers, "he'll steal anything."

The Woofter Park dog walkers aren't organized and don't raise funds for any cause. They come together out of a common interest, exercising their pets and themselves, Jackson said.

"When I started taking my dog, Max, to the park, I had no idea how important the other owners and dogs would become to me," Jackson said. "We celebrate birthdays, complain about relationships, and now we are agonizing about the loss of Eriq.

"We truly are an extended family," she said.

Deborah Pratt, who brought photos of the dogs on their birthdays, on Halloween and on home visits, showed off Eriq as a football player on Oct. 31.

"The other dogs went after the toy football he was holding and dragged him down the field," Pratt said.

They continue to keep an eye out for Eriq, who was wearing a blue collar with tags and who has a clubbed back foot. If they find him, it will be a victory for all, and if they don't they all will grieve together.

"If we can bring out consciousness and prayers together, maybe a miracle will happen and Eriq will come home," Pratt said. "Someone probably thought they rescued him, but he has a family."

"An extended family," Clark added.