Amy Paszkowski and Kevin McCormick have owned the Elberta Animal Hospital for 14 years, but they recently added a new feature which is already making local dogs a bit happier.

Paszkowski and McCormick, originally from New Jersey, opened the Elberta Bark Park in October. The park, located right next door to the hospital, specializes in providing daycare and overnight boarding to dogs. However, the part that Paszkowski rants and raves about is the recreational areas that offer the canines a chance to run around and release their energy by the time the owners come back to pick them up.

“It’s good to let them run around and be with other dogs,” Paszkowski said, noting there are four inside areas and three outside areas for the dogs to call their own. “It allows the dogs to have socializing time with other dogs.”

She said the park is a supplement to the hospital, and the point is not to make a lot of money from it.

“Around Thanksgiving and Christmastime, we were packed,” she said. “We thought we’d make a little bit of money, but it’s really for the dogs.”

McCormick said the park is really meeting a need.

“It’s fun to help the dogs, especially when they’re in dire need of something like this,” McCormick said.

Paszkowski is the animal doctor, and McCormick said he does “a little bit of everything” from accounting to administrative assistant work.

“Wherever I’m needed,” he said.

The park’s catch phrase, “Large and small - we love them all,” could not be more true. The park accepts all breeds, Paszkowski said. However, there is a catch. For any dogs that act up, Paszkowski said they “separate them or put them in time out like little kids.”

On March 23, two dogs were separated from the group because they were rough and almost trampled over one of the smaller dogs in the yard, McCormick said.

“We don’t want any of the dogs to get hurt.”

Paszkowski said she got the idea for a bark park from bigger cities where she would see similar businesses. She also got the desire to do something fun for the dogs when her kids made grim statements about the hospital.

“My kids used to always come (to the clinic) after school, and they said they always saw the dogs sick or in kennels,” Paszkowski said. “That bothered me, so we let the dogs have the extra house. They can run around, play, have fun, whatever they want to do. Most importantly, they’re not sick or in kennels.”

However, opening the park didn’t just provide something fun for the dogs. Paszkowski started learning a bit more about the animals as they socialized with other dogs and their owners.

“It got me interested in their social behaviors.” she said. “Another thing that interests me is the relation between a pet and an owner. I have a lot of clients who lost their spouse. They’re always with the pet. For some people, the pet is part of the family.”

The park offers different rates depending on the amount of time the dog stays at the park. Half-day stays, which is five hours or less, cost $9. Full-day stays cost $16, and a full week costs $70. Overnight boarding rates depend on the size of the dog. Dogs that weight 20 pounds or less cost $18 to spend the night, dogs weighing 20-50 pounds cost $19.50, dogs weighing 50-75 pounds cost $21 and dogs that weigh more than 75 pounds cost $23 to stay the night.