Doggedness pays off in adopting pet and park

This is a story about a dog park, that modern amenity where people take their dogs to run off nervous energy and become socialized. But it’s more about human nature than dog behavior, and about giving things a chance to work.

In December 2015, Tom Hinson and Linda Andersen adopted Kiko, a 2-year-old mixed-breed dog. Kiko (“Spot” in Hawaiian) had already been adopted and returned twice to the Hawaiian Humane Society. He was quiet in a kennel but wild at home. “He chewed the cushions, chewed the furniture, ripped the screen,” Hinson said. They took Kiko down the hill from their Moanalua house to the dog park, where he would charge at other dogs.

Besides Kiko’s behavior, things were not pleasant at the Moanalua Dog Park. Hinson was stepping through mud, stepping over piles of poop, swatting away flies, pulling his ill-behaved dog off other dogs and getting yelled at by other dog owners. Things had to get better.

Before giving up on Kiko, they enrolled him in dog training class. “I’m a retired special-ed teacher,” Andersen said. “I could look at Kiko and see, ‘You’ve got capabilities.’”

Hinson could look at the dog park and see possibilities. He started picking up poop and reminding people about rules.

Not everyone was happy with his approach. Comments appeared on Yelp about a rude man making his own signs and being bossy.

“I was talking to a guy once, and he said, ‘You know, I came here to relax, not to tell people what to do.’ That was his way of telling me to shut up,” Hinson said. Later the man came back with his dog and approached Hinson with a sort-of apology. “He said, ‘Everything you said was good. I just didn’t sleep the night before. I worked a double shift. You were talking and it was like, ‘OK, brah, enough.’”

Hinson, a semiretired musician who teaches guitar and performs in Waikiki, took pictures of the mud, the flies and the rusty uncovered trash cans, and emailed Carol Fukunaga, the area representative on the City Council. The city responded by bringing new trash cans and wood chips to help with the mud. Hinson gathered up a team of volunteers who helped spread the mulch. Volunteers also set out fly traps and cleaned out the old algae-, mosquito- and toad-infested koi pond on the property.

The park started looking better. People started behaving better, picking up after their dogs, reporting suspicious activities in the area, respecting the no-smoking rule. Volunteers started a Facebook page to post pictures of their dogs and share information about the dog park. A community started to form.

Kiko changed for the better, too. He’s now friendly and gentle with other dogs. He sits nicely with his owners in the shade. He runs up the hill for fun and then comes trotting back to them, sweetly wagging his tail. Women admire his tawny coat and say they want to do their hair in that color.

And Hinson, who has never been afraid to talk to anybody, has learned how to talk to people so they’re more open to the message. “I walk up to them, and first I say, ‘Hi! Nice dog!’” He has also signed adopt-a-park documents to be the volunteer coordinator for the dog park. People come from all over to let their dogs run in the fenced area — from Kalihi, Kailua, Kaneohe as well as the Moanalua area.

And there are nice comments about Hinson on Yelp thanking him for believing things could be better and for stepping up to help it happen.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.