RUTHERFORDTON - The park is a lesson in peaceful diversity.

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Short hair and long hair; dragging bellies and spindly legs; coiffed, curly locks and straight, unstyled manes; ears pointed and flopped; black, brown, white and golden.

Lucy and Gus tangle in the grass under a tree and part as friends. Occasional bark fests erupt among others then subside in the heat. No grudges.

And no leashes.

At Four Paws Kingdom Campground, about an hour southeast of Asheville, the dog park is one of five fenced, off-leash areas for canines and their humans. Owners Birgit and Meik Bartoschek say it's the only dog-dedicated campground in the United States.

The dogs' social graces in groups surprised Jane Taylor, who spent three nights here recently with four pooches: two rat terrier mixes, a cockapoo and a long-haired Chihuahua-miniature dachshund mix.

"They come here as strangers and seem to behave beautifully. It's like when you take your children some place and don't know if they're going to behave very well," says Taylor, of Mount Airy, on her fourth visit to the campground since October.

Who wouldn't behave? There's too much fun for troublemaking.

A swimming pond, agility field, playground and camp store with cookies, biscuits and even dog place mats cater to canines.

Activities include dog Olympiads, dog bandanna painting and workshops in agility and obedience. Birgit Bartoschek, 45, was an obedience trainer in Florida and the couple's native Germany.

She's also an artist. The Bartoscheks, then based in Florida, got the idea for their campground while traveling around the United States to art shows with their corgis, Lucy and Schroeder.

"We wondered how it would be to have a campground that didn't just tolerate dogs but welcomed dogs," Birgit says.

Their fees are $30 to $36 a night for two adults and up to three dogs.

Mirroring a trend

According to a national survey, the number of people who travel with their dogs is increasing, says Susan Sims, publisher of Fido Friendly, a quarterly magazine based in Costa Mesa, Calif., devoted to traveling with dogs.

"I don't know if it's the empty nest syndrome or that we're treating our pets like our families," she says.

Though some hotels and motels allow pets, many campgrounds don't. Boutique hotels that accept dogs offer pet amenity packages that may include cookies for dogs and humans at check-in and canine pickup bags, dishes and beds, Sims says.

A jumble of canines

At Four Paws on a recent day, the roster of about 20 dogs includes a standard poodle, a border collie, golden and Labrador retrievers, terriers, corgis, a Shih Tzu mix, Chihuahuas and a Beauceron, a French herding dog.

That's a small group.

The campground, open April through Thanksgiving weekend, has hosted as many as 90 dogs at a time. Insurance regulations prohibit certain breeds, including pit bulls and Rottweilers.

"Of course, you sometimes have dogs who don't like each other," Birgit Bartoschek says. "We've never had blood drawn. That's what I call a real fight."

And the next day, the dogs are buddies, says, Meik Bartoschek, 46, who worked at a consulting organization in Florida.

If the dogs get along well, the humans generally do, too.

"We all have something in common, at least. Everyone treats the dogs with respect and tolerance," Taylor says.

To increase respect and tolerance for dogs, the Bartoscheks started the Four Paws Kingdom Foundation, a nonprofit organization that offers dog-handling and behavior seminars and workshops.

If dogs could read, they'd appreciate the campsite names in honor of Toto, Lassie, Benji, Rin Tin Tin, Scooby Doo and other celebrities of their species.

Cyndi and Dean Connolly brought their golden retriever and two border collies here from Betavia, Ill. The dogs didn't learn to read, but they swam for the first time.

"We have so many friends who find it difficult to travel with their dogs but would if there were a place like this," Cyndi Connolly says.