ohmidog!

The Winston-Salem area is about to become even more dog-friendly, with the opening, as early as this summer, of a third dog park — the dog park at Tanglewood.

On top of that, the Winston-Salem Dash, the minor league baseball team that held its first “Pups in the Park” game last summer, has announced it plans to hold five this year.

A spokesman for the group raising money for the dog park at Tanglewood (off Highway 158 in Clemmons) reports that $135,000 of the $150,000 it needs to build the park has been raised, and construction could begin in April or May.

If so, Dan Greer told the Winston-Salem Journal, the park, with separate sections for large and small dogs, could open almost a nearly year ahead of schedule.

Dog park organizers have until the end of 2012 to raise the money needed to build the park, and they hope to raise the remaining $15,000 by selling custom bricks, engraved with donor’s names, or their dog’s, that will be part of the entrance.

The bricks are $125 each, and they can be ordered here.

The other two dog parks in the Winston-Salem area are at Washington Park and Horizons Park.

Meanwhile, at BB&T Park, home of the Winston-Salem Dash, dogs will invited to five baseball games this coming season.

Pups in the Park nights are scheduled for Tuesday, April 24; Wednesday, May 30; Wednesday, June 13; Wednesday, July 25; and Wednesday, August 15.

Dogs require proof of rabies vaccinations. For additional information or to reserve your tickets, contact Sarah Baumann at sarah.baumann@wsdash.com or call 336-714-6878. More information can be found at the Forsyth County Humane Society website.

Name: Burger

Age: 3

Breed: Labradoodle

Encountered: At Washington Park, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Backstory: This eye-catching boy drew a lot of attention when he sauntered into the dog park with his owners, mainly because of his silky coat the color of chocolate milk.

Make that chocolate milk that you haven’t quite finished stirring.

His fluffy, curly coat, in varying hues of silvery-brown, made me wonder why he was named Burger, and not Milkshake.

It was only around his eyes that you could clearly distinguish one of the breeds within — a chocolate Lab.

Burger was the first chocolate Labradoodle I’ve met, and I found myself coveting not just his hair color, but his aura — at once distinguished and goofy.

That’s what I want to be when I grow up.

You can find all our Roadside Encounters here.

Name: Bailey

Age: 2 1/2 years

Breed: Corgi-Chow mix

Encountered: At Washington Park, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Backstory: Ace and I were visiting Winston-Salem’s dog park when Bailey came trotting in — a demure little thing with a pretty close to ground level view of the world.

Built like a fire hydrant with short stocky legs and a neck as big as her head, she was adopted by her owner from the Forsyth County Humane Society a couple of years ago.

Despite being short of stature, she had no trouble leaping a foot-high barrier, and, with two more leaps, jumping up on a picnic table, at which point she towered over Ace and all the other dogs, who she seemed content to lay there and watch.

Roadside Encounters is a regular feature of Travels With Ace. To see them all, click here.

Name: Piero

Age: 6

Breed: Yellow Lab

Encountered: At Washington Perk, a coffee house/grocery/deli in Winston-Salem, N.C. that — just down the street from the city’s dog park — has become one of Ace’s favorite hangouts.

Backstory: We were enjoying some breakfast Saturday morning on the outside deck when Piero arrived with his humans.

His owners said the name was Italian for Peter, or at least one variation of that, and that they gave all their pets Italian names.

Like Ace, Piero sat quietly, and grew more intent when food arrived.

Piero seemed a very happy dog. Being a yellow lab, he may not be headed for the dean’s list, his owner noted.

But then he did know enough to get into the shade, which was more than you could say for us.

(Roadside Encounters is a regular feature of Travels With Ace. To see them all click here.)