Boy Scout builds Middlefield dog park

A park in Middlefield is going to the dogs thanks to one Boy Scout. His project is music to the ears of many pet owners in the area.

Tyler Sibley had a dream; he wanted to build a dog park in Middlefield. He's a 15-year-old used to hard physical work and he's a Boy Scout. The dog park is a project that started more than a year ago.

"Going through all of the government work, we had to get all the approvals from everybody and if they didn't like what we had, we had to go back again," said Sibley, of Middlefield. "I would say getting all of the approvals is the hardest."

"You should have seen him standing up at the planning and zoning commission and getting drilled; [it was] very much a maturing time for him," said Tyler's father, Pete Sibley.

But a Scout never gives up and now after raising $412,000 and a gift of fencing from the Wallingford Home Depot, the dogs can play.

"It's a great tribute to the Scouting program in Middlefield," said First Selectman John Brayshaw. "And, it's a tribute to Tyler and his ingenious thoughts and execution of it."

The nearest dog park was in Wethersfield or Hamden which is too far for human or K-9, so he made it his Eagle Scout project and the community got behind him.

"We formulated a group called MI-DOG which stands for Middlefield Dog Owners Group. They helped me raise funding," said Tyler Sibley of Middlefield. "Which is helping me out because it's overwhelming to be doing all of this."

And now he has more hard work ahead of him to keep the tails wagging.

The second phase of the dog park is to expand the fencing; it will be almost an entire acre and give the dogs the room they need to run.

The park is located at the end of Mattabeseck Road in Middlefield.

The town is working to update its website to include the dog park location.