For Woodland resident Jaymi Sowder, a dream inspired by her dogs has grown into a community-wide effort to bring a dog park to the south Cowlitz County community.
Sowder’s vision began with the goal of obtaining community support through signatures on a petition, both digitally and in person. Her efforts started in October 2025 with the petition, and after aiming to obtain 200 digital signatures in addition to any in-person signings she could secure, Sowder said the petition reached nearly 500 signatures.
Her goal with the petition was to present the idea, with support backing her cause, to the Woodland City Council. She said the way the city council received the idea was “hard to tell; it’s definitely not one of their priorities.”
Sowder said the community's response has reinforced the demand for a dog park, though.
“I feel like it confirms it for sure,” she said.
Now, Sowder’s push for a local dog park in Woodland has expanded into a federally recognized nonprofit organization, Beau and Lola’s Dream, available online at dogparkdream.org. Beau and Lola’s Dream, named after her two dogs, is a result of peer pressure from her canines, Sowder previously joked.
“My dogs have honestly bullied me into it,” Sowder joked in an October article in The Reflector. “I do take them to the normal park all the time, and it’s just a little bit too far, and I can’t always get out there.”
To continue building support, Sowder also started a Facebook group called “Woodland Dog Park Supporters” along with the nonprofit’s website.
“City council’s biggest concern seemed to be funds, and hopefully this will mitigate that concern for them,” Sowder said of her nonprofit. “It’s also a good way to gather support, like, through the nonprofit, we’ve already had people willing to volunteer.”
Sowder said her original vision remains simple and intact.
“My vision is a dog park,” she said. “Unfortunately, Woodland doesn’t have one, and it’s like a 20-minute drive to get to one.”
She added that her dogs’ friendly personalities continue to motivate the project.
“My dogs are overly friendly, so they just want to make friends with everybody, and there’s not really an appropriate place to let them free and do that,” Sowder said. “So my goal is to make that happen.”
Sowder previously said she believes a dog park would provide a “super benefit” to the community by giving both pets and owners a place to socialize.
“My dogs are social to like a fault where they’ll go up to anybody,” she said in October. “They don’t care if they don’t want to be friends. My dogs are going to be friends. So I think it would be super beneficial to the community just to have something local where dogs can go and make friends.”
Sowder added that she continues to spread the word in additional creative ways, such as friendship bracelets.
“So, as kind of like a side project, I’ve been making a bunch of friendship bracelets with my little QR code on them and leaving them around Woodland,” Sowder said.
Looking ahead, Sowder said she remains optimistic that the project can become a reality after the increase in community support.
“I’m looking forward to getting a dog park,” she said. “I think it is an obtainable goal. I’m ready to make it happen. My dogs want friends.”
