By Ben Fractenberg and Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Staff
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — The brand-new South Street dog run has gotten so dirty that it's making dogs sick, worried owners say.
Several owners said their pooches recently came down with stomach bugs after playing in the new 4,300-square-foot oval dog run, which is often dotted with dog waste.
"There are tons of dogs, and they're all roaming around in each other's pee and poop," said Debbie Weiss, 45, who lives on Peck Slip.
Last week, Weiss's 3-year-old Havanese poodle, Amelia, vomited repeatedly and had diarrhea after visiting the dog run. It was the first time the tiny dog, which weighs less than 15 pounds, has ever been so sick.
Weiss said she was so concerned that she stayed up all night with Amelia and fed her Pedialyte with an eyedropper until the dog finally felt better.
"The situation [at the dog run] is horrible," Weiss said.
The dog park, under the FDR Drive near Pine Street, is part of the city's new $165 million East River Waterfront and has many pup-friendly features, including a giant dog house, a fountain and a sculpture of a squirrel.
But dog owners say the fancy run has so many nooks and crannies that it's hard to monitor exactly where the dogs are marking their territory, which leads some irresponsible owners to not even try to pick up after their dogs.
And despite all the dog run's fun features, owners say it's missing one of the most basic amenities: a hose.
"People don't clean up the poop, and there's no hose to clean," said Emily-Jane Finigan, 28, who has a puggle named Rocky.
Finigan said Rocky vomited last Friday after frolicking with other dogs in the dirty park.
The worst areas of the dog run are usually a patch of small rocks that is hard to clean and a pool that some dogs use as a toilet and others use as a water bowl, owners said.
Dog owners added that while the city appears to clean the park daily, that is not sufficient.
"They try to clean, but they don't do a thorough enough job," said John Larson, 46, who takes his 10-year-old pit bull Ginger to the park.
Larson said Ginger was recently sick with diarrhea for a week, which she had never had before playing in the dog run.
Although Hurricane Irene had largely washed the dog run clean by Monday morning, the mess over the past few weeks had gotten so bad that Janet Carhuayano, manager of The Salty Paw pet spa, stopped taking her dogs and those she dog-sits to the South Street run.
"I've been noticing how dirty it is, and I can't take that risk," said Carhuayano, who has a Maltese named Theo and a terrier mix named Teddy. "I can't go in there and risk someone else's dog getting sick on my watch…. It's just not safe."
A spokeswoman for the Economic Development Corp., which built the dog run and is responsible for maintaining it, said the agency is open to comments and suggested people call 311 to report any issues.
