Now that the Windsor Town Council has ruled in favor of allowing a dog park at Northwest Park, organizers are looking for others in the community to help get the dog park up and running.

The Town Council made that favorable ruling on Jan. 5. Since the permission has been granted, money now needs to be raised, rules need to be set, and the fencing and other items need to be purchased . Organizers are currently looking for other doggie-minded people in Windsor to help with those tasks.

They held a meeting at the Windsor Public Library on Tuesday, Jan. 27, to talk about all of the dog park’s needs and to invite the community and encourage others to get involved. More than a dozen dog lovers showed up to show their support and to volunteer their services. By the end of the meeting, all had signed up for various committees on which to help serve in bringing the dog park to fruition .

Irene Fitzsimonds has a golden retriever and said she came to the meeting to just find out more about the park. “I really don’t know anything about it,” she said. “I want a place to go with the dogs. You’re so limited, keeping them on a leash, and dogs need to run. I want a place for them to run without breaking the law.”

Most of those in attendance said they were frequent visitors of other dog parks in neighboring towns, especially the one in East Granby. Ken and Renee Filete said they have taken their yellow lab there and would like a dog park that is more convenient. “At the one in East Granby, people take great pride in the park, and there’s a lot of community involvement . We want to give something back in our own community and be involved in this dog park,” said Ken Filete.

Jack Alberti is also looking for a more convenient place to run his dogs. “We have two dogs that need to run, and we want them to run on their own without breaking any laws,” he said.

Alberti acknowledged that now all that was needed was time and money. As for the money, the town has given a little bit of start-up money, but the organizers must raise $4,800 before the town begins matching donations dollar-for-dollar .

The site is a small one in comparison to other dog parks in the area. It will sit on about a third of an acre, in the overflow parking lot area of Northwest Park.

The group still needs to find appropriate fencing, decide on a ground cover and make other logistical decisions along with raising the funds to get the dog park off the ground.

Other interested residents can still get involved, too. The dog park has its own Web site, www.windsordogpark.org. There, you can see how you can volunteer to help. Checks to support the effort may be made out to the Windsor Dog Park and dropped off at the Recreation Department at the L.P. Wilson Community Center or at Town Hall.