The 'stick library' has made global headlines and is a success with dogs at the dog park. Photo / Caters
The 'stick library' has made global headlines and is a success with dogs at the dog park. Photo / Caters
When Kaiapoi man Andrew Taylor decided to collect some sticks for the dogs at the new dog park, he could not have imagine his idea would make headlines all over the world.
The 59-year-old toolmaker was trimming trees on the side of his house when he had an idea for what to do with the branches he was cutting off.
Taylor decided to build a "library" so all dogs could use and return sticks at the new dog park near his house.
Andrew Taylor and his daughter Tayla Reece. Photo / Caters
He smoothed down the branches and put them in a box, sanded the edges to make it safer for dogs reaching into it, and engraved it with the words "stick library".
He then took the box full of sticks to the new dog park in Kaiapoi, Canterbury.
"Our dog Bella had become a stick lover because she ripped to shreds any balls or toys," his daughter, Tayla Reece, said.
Local dogs love the library. Photo / Caters
"While trimming the trees, my dad found himself with a lot of dead branches, and knowing from experience how hard it can be to find a good stick, and that the new dog park was opening soon, he had the idea that he would save them and put them in some kind of box.
"When the park opened on November 30, mum and dad took Bella and sure enough there were no good sticks.
"Dad is the type of guy that is always thinking of things to make, so the next day he found a suitable crate and made the sign for the top," Reece added.
"He decided to call it the stick library because it implied that you return the stick once you're finished with it."
She uploaded footage showing the stick library and the videos quickly spread across Facebook, with people praising Taylor's ingenious idea.
Dog owners and their pooches who visited the local park also loved the new "library".
"I first shared the video to our Kaiapoi Residents Noticeboard on social media, where people thought it was a really awesome idea and shared pictures of their own dogs saying thank you or heading down and using the stick library," Reece said.
Photo / Caters
"Shortly after that, I made an event asking people to meet me at the dog park on December 11 to celebrate the stick library and get some photos.
"Approximately 50 people turned up with their dogs and one guy even brought his cat," she said.
"As people started to arrive there was a disbelief of how simple the idea was, but it's one of those ideas no one had thought of.
"All the dog owners appreciate it as they all have experienced the 'good stick search' which isn't always fruitful, it's an idea that just makes sense to them."
