By Justin Adams | [email protected]

Last month, Herriman City opened a long-awaited dog park, the first in the city. The K9 Memorial Dog Park provides a new amenity to residents while also honoring the lost lives of K9 police dogs.

“This park was designed to also serve as a permanent tribute to police K9s — particularly K9s Dingo and Hondo, who each gave their lives in the line of duty while serving Herriman,” reads the city’s description of the park.

K9 Hondo was killed in 2020 while assisting with the capture of a man wanted by the U.S. Marshals. K9 Dingo was killed in the line of duty before the Herriman Police Department was formed.

“My family and I really appreciate the support that we’ve had from everybody, and now to memorialize the dogs in this way at a dog park is just perfect,” said Sgt. Ben Ricks of the Herriman Police Department, who was K9 Hondo’s partner.   

The nearly 5-acre park is separated into two sections and features plenty of open grass for visiting dogs to run around, and even some features that function as little “dog playgrounds.”
Judging by its first day of operation, the park is already a hit with residents.

“I love how big it is. It’s really nice that there are two sides, for big dogs and little dogs. I think it’s really beautiful, I think it’s in a great location. They’ve done a great job,” said Ashley Brough, who brought her dog Dot to the park on opening day.

Dorothy Zhau and her dog Twinkle were also there.

“I love it, it’s huge,” she said. “We live on the border of Herriman and South Jordan so we used to go to the Daybreak Dog Park, but this one is much bigger. I love it and it looks like Twinkle loves it as well.”