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My dog jumps up on my bed every single morning at 6 o’ clock and slaps in the face with her paws. It’s time to take her to the Pierre Radisson dog park.

This park is located in a former riverbed. Back in the day it was considered to have too much alkali to be developed. Decades later there is still nothing there other than the odd tree, and now this dog park. The wind whistles through there and quickly freezes you solid in the cold.

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Despite the lack of amenities, it’s my dog’s favourite place in the entire world. She runs around like a maniac, playing with other high energy dogs while we owners simply freeze all winter long. The park has no windbreaks and only has a picnic table that was taken from somewhere else and heaved over the fence.

It now smells of urine, and I’m afraid to sit on it. With no shelter or windbreak the park will be cold in the park from now until early April.

Both Winnipeg and Edmonton over the last several months have released new design guidelines to make their winters a little more tolerable. They are common sense principles to help people live better in the winter.