Raising Cane’s holds “pawty” at new dog park

By PAMELA GRANT

Cove Leader-Press

People and their pooches had a doggone good time celebrating Raising Cane’s Dog Park Saturday.

Raising Cane’s Copperas Cove Dog Park officially opened Wednesday, and they followed it up with a big “pawty” for the community Saturday from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. They invited the community out to check out the dog park and enjoy some fun games and maybe win a prize or two.

“This is the dog park party for the opening. We have lots of prizes and drinks as well,” said Michele Crum, Copperas Cove’s Raising Cane’s Operation Manager.

Prizes included things like coloring books, notepads, a puppy plushie, and “lip sauce” for the people and things like balls, frisbees, bandanas, and water bowls for the dogs.

“We opened the dog park to the community Wednesday, and this is just our chance to meet with everyone and intermingle,” said Shaun Smith, Restaurant Leader for the Copperas Cove Raising Cane’s. “It’s a way for us to support the customers that support us every day. It’s our way for us to support them back and have fun at the same time. The dog park is amazing. I’m so glad to see so many people out here just enjoying the park. It’s something that the community has asked for a really long time. It took us a while to facilitate it, but now it’s here and it’s here forever.”

Covites have been requesting a dog park for years. Members of the Five Hills Scholarship Program, Emily Kimball and Allyssa Kimball started raising funds and support for the park in 2018. With the help of the Youth Advisory Council and Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful, they managed to raise a lot of money towards creating the park, but it wasn’t until Raising Cane’s agreed to sponsor the park and provide $50,000 that the plans started to become reality. Ground was broken for the dog park in August 2022 and the ribbon cutting and grand opening were held Jan 18. of this year.

Raising Cane’s dog park in Copperas Cove is Raising Cane’s first dog park in Texas, and the company already has dog parks in its home state of Louisiana.

“I love it. It’s so much better than going all the way to Harker Heights,” said Nicci Scott who brought her Great Pyrenees, Mippo, to the dog park for the “pawty”. Scott said that she really liked the dog park and thought that it really fit with Raising Cane’s image. She added that she thought it was a great place to train dogs and was super grateful to Raising Cane’s for both the dog park and the “pawty”.

“I really like it,” said Nicole Sisca who brought her dog, Diesel to the dog park for the “pawty”. Sisca just moved from the Austin area and was grateful that Copperas Cove has such a nice dog park. “It’s a great place for the dogs to meet and socialize. It’s a great dog park. I love it.”