Located in Cottonwood, Idaho the Dog Bark Park is a Bed and Breakfast with a difference – a 35 foot high beagle shaped difference.

Known affectionately as ‘Sweet Willie Colton’ by his owners Dennis and Frances Conklin, Sweet Willie is a fully operational B&B. He’s a relatively recent addition to the Conklin enterprise, which previously consisted of a shop selling folk art wooden dog statues carved with a chainsaw.

The Conklins decided to build Willie when they decided that their 12 foot beagle statue was just not large enough. Willie began life as a billboard idea, however one magical night the Conklins were inspired to create a Bed and Breakfast. The rest is now history.  Sweet Willie’s rear end contains a bathroom, his belly is filled with a bed, breakfast bar, table and bookshelf, and his nose is a little loft hideaway with a bed perfect for kids to sleep in. Sweet Willie welcomes guests all year round, and his owners have even been kind enough to build him an 11 foot high fire hydrant in case nature calls.

A classic slice of Americana, the Dog Bark Park Inn isn’t the first inn of its kind, though it is certainly a rarity these days. At one time American travellers would be delighted by surreal super sized lodgings and amenities of all kinds, as the Dog Bark Park Inn website describes “Remember coffee pot or teacup gas stations, milk bottle shaped restaurants or the shoe and duck houses?” Sweet Willie hearkens back to the golden days of yesteryear, when men were real men, women were real women, and beagles were 35 feet tall.

For a taste of America more authentic than Apple Pie, pay a visit to the friendly folks at the Dog Park Bark Inn, Cottonwood, Idaho.