Boyd going for dog lover votes?

Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd announced his donation of $10,000 toward creation of a dog park in Dyersburg Friday at a Chamber of Commerce/Dyer County Leadership event, reports the Dyersburg State Gazette.

Boyd, the former Economic and Community Development commissioner and founder of Radio Systems Corporation, an industry leader in pet products including Invisible Fence, spoke to those gathered briefly before surprising the leadership group with his donation.

…“It didn’t take long (as ECD commissioner) before you realized that companies don’t want to move to a place that’s not a good community. Quickly, I realized that the community is the most important part. We’ve supported things like Main Street programs and downtown programs to make the communities more livable.

“But then, as a career, I’m in the dog business. We love dogs. About 12 years ago, my company had this big field, about 3 acres, and we didn’t have anything to do with it or no ideas on what to do with it. One of my employees had the idea of turning it into a dog park. We tried it. We built up this dog park and sure enough, the minute we built it, they came.”

After that initial dog park, Boyd played a role in creating other dog parks in his hometown of Knoxville as well as other communities around the country with his company’s Bark for Your Park contest.

“One of the great things about a dog park is that it brings the people in the community together,” added Boyd. “Whether you’re old or young, black or white, rich or poor, we all love our dogs. We all share a park bench. We all share the love of your dogs watching them play and enjoy the park.

“Dog parks are a key part of our community. Dog parks will help economic development. It’s something that we believe in,” explained Boyd. “Jenny [Boyd’s wife] and I have been blessed beyond our wildest dreams, and we decided that the rest of our lives are about giving back. When the mayors told me about this project, I thought this is something that I’d be willing to help with.”