Dog Bark Park Inn

Cottonwood, Idaho, United States

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Buildings and structures

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Dog Bark Park is a beagle-shaped building on US Highway 95 at Cottonwood, Idaho, made by wood-carving artists Dennis Sullivan and Frances Conklin and built in 2003. Overnight stays ended in 2024, and the former gift shop is now a free museum of their work.

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Dog Bark Park Inn

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Site-level location · 46.0575° N, 116.3445° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Few roadside buildings announce themselves as plainly as this one. At Cottonwood, in north central Idaho, a giant beagle sits beside US Highway 95, its operator calling it the World's Biggest Beagle. It is the centrepiece of Dog Bark Park, the creation of wood-carving artist Dennis Sullivan and his partner Frances Conklin.

The pair founded Dog Bark Park in 1997, carving wooden dogs. Their big break had come in 1995, when their carvings sold on the television shopping channel QVC. KGUN 9 described the result as a 30-foot-tall dog structure and reported that it took four years to build and get just right. The operator says the beagle has been popular since its creation in 2003.

For years the beagle doubled as a guesthouse, with visitors sleeping inside the dog. The operator says that ended in 2024, and that Sullivan and Conklin have retired and closed the business. In April 2025 the park announced that its web gift shop was closing. The former gift shop is now described as a free museum of the couple's creative work. Nothing is sold there, and it opens only sporadically or by appointment, so it should not be counted on.

The artists also received a 2003 Take Pride in Idaho Cultural Tourism Award for a large carved exhibit about Seaman, the dog who accompanied Lewis and Clark.

The park gives its location as Business Loop 95, Cottonwood, with Grangeville about 15 minutes to the south and Lewiston about an hour to the north. Plan the stop as a roadside photograph; the interior is no longer open to overnight guests.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

The beagle stands beside US Highway 95 at Cottonwood. The operator says the former gift shop is a free museum, open on a sporadic basis or by appointment, with nothing for sale. Overnight stays inside the beagle ended in 2024.

ACCESS

Dog Bark Park is at 2421 Business Loop 95, Cottonwood, Idaho, on US Highway 95 (operator website). The museum opens only sporadically or by appointment; overnight stays are no longer offered.

COMMUNITY

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Find another Big Thing nearby

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Public art

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97 km away

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