The Paw-Pup Dog Park — a fenced-off portion of the parking lot between the Alhambra Golf Course and the YMCA — has been open for just over a month. It’s an experiment the city council is trying because supporters say they need a place to let their pets roam freely and opponents worry about hygiene issues or feel green space in the city should be reserved for other activities.

The park is separated into two areas, one for small dogs and one for larger dogs. It has two hand washing stations, as well as two portable toilets for people to use. The park also has little baggies for owners to pick up their dogs’ feces. Despite the amenities and having been open for a month, hardly anyone visits the dog park during the day and only really takes advantage of it in the mornings, according to park-goers and several recent visits.

The three closest dog parks to Alhambra are South Paws-Ardena Dog Park, Friends of Hermon Dog Park, and Garvey Park located in Rosemead. Some people have started to take advantage of the fact that they have a park closer to them. 

Nick Lee, a new Alhambra resident, takes his mixed Husky and German Shepard, Arya, to the park at least three times a week because she’s a very active dog. He discovered the park through a Google search and realized it’s very close to him. He hopes the park remains as a permanent installment at the end of the trial period. 

“It’s just so convenient for me. The other two places are about 20 minutes away versus this is like five minutes away,” Lee said. 

Michelle Chan, another Alhambra resident, has taken advantage of having a close dog park as well. She’s tried to take her dog, Bingsu, everyday since she found out about the park. She found the dog park through Yelp and uses the park to get her dog to socialize more, whenever there are people there, and to let her run around without a leash. Chan hopes the park remains permanent as well since it’s close to her home. 

Chan and Lee both separately expressed displeasure in owners not picking up after their dogs. 

“It’s not really the park but people left poop here so we actually just picked it up for them,” said Chan. “The park’s really nice. It’s just sometimes the people don’t really follow the rules.” 

The park is advertised as being open from dawn to dusk and requests feedback through a QR code that links to a survey. Paw-Pup Dog Park’s last day of being open, for now, is Nov. 5.