Dog owners have sticks to throw, tennis balls to toss and treats to offer their pets as they walk along Poplar Boulevard thanks to one Belhaven resident.
Max David Marsh spent three months building the Poplar Boulevard Public Puppy Library, which is a canine version of a Little Free Library where books are free and accessible to all 24/7.
“It didn’t seem fair for people to have all the libraries and puppies to have none,” he said with his tongue in cheek.
The view from his front porch on Poplar Boulevard of residents walking dogs and his love for his family also inspired Max David.
“My sister and her family had just gotten a new dog, a Chiweenie, named Ethel,” he said. “I thought it would be fun for my nieces to take Ethel to the puppy library.”
A native of Jackson, Max David, age 34, is a graduate of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School and the University of Alabama where he majored in psychology and minored in literature. He works “mostly in marketing but does a little bit of everything” at Benchmark Construction, which his father, David Marsh III, founded.
Max David expected to knock out the project in a weekend, but it stretched over three months. “I had a piece of spare plywood and a spare 2x2 and that’s why I thought it would be a quick project,” he said.
The more thought he gave the project, the more detailed it grew, evolving from just a location for dog toys and treats to incorporating references to literature and including a memorial for beloved pets.
The Poplar Blvd. Public Puppy Library includes no actual books but shows a row of books as part of its design. Pictured are the spines of books with titles such as “The Chiweenie in the Rye” instead of “The Catcher in the Rye,” “Cairn Bite 451” instead of “Fahrenheit 451,” “Fetch 22” instead of “Catch-22” and “For Whom the Tail Wags” instead of “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”
A brass plaque attached to the puppy library reads “in loving memory of all the pets we so loved, and all the pets that so loved us.”
Fastened to the puppy library are replicas of dogs tags worn by Binnie and Button, owned by Anna and David Selby, Max David’s sister and brother-in-law; Bo, owned by the late Betty and Max Pharr, Max David’s grandparents; Toto, a Cairn Terrier owned by the late Margaret Pharr, Max David’s aunt, and then the Marsh family; Sunny, a dog Max David grew up with as a child; Frisky, Frida and Sarge, owned by Max David’s father; and Rhett, owned by Ginny and Mickey Slaughter, Max David’s cousin and her husband.
Two hooks await tags for Patton, another dog the Slaughters own; and Reggie, a dog owned by Maggie and (the late) Jim Nippes, Max David’s aunt and uncle.
The tags, which are shaped like the ones the dogs wore, came from several sources and were engraved locally. “Securing those took a lot of time,” said Max David, who doesn’t own a dog but enjoys the company of a neighbor’s cat who from time-to-time likes to rest on his porch.
Built with a lot of trial and error, the puppy library made its debut during a weekly Sunday evening dinner at the home of his parents, Patsy and David. “They were pleased,” Max David said.
Michelle Hudson, a retired librarian and Belhaven resident, recently happened upon the puppy library as she was taking a walk.
“I think it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” she said. “We’ve got those free little libraries across the neighborhood and now we’ve got this.”
Hudson especially appreciated the altered book titles, naming “To Kill a Squirrel” and “The Lord of the Fleas” as memorable.
“As a librarian, I think they are very clever,” she said. “They made me smile.”
Max David said he’s seen numerous people stop and take photos in front of the puppy library. He hopes dog owners realize they’re free to take the sticks, which he sanded down to be safe, and tennis balls and are welcome to give their pets a treat. He plans to replenish it all as it needs it.
“The pet treats seem to be a crowd favorite,” he said. There’s just something about having a neighborhood with a lot of happy dogs that makes it feel more like a neighborhood.”
