There’s a battle going on in NYC regarding off-leash time in the parks. The Parks Dept. allows dogs to be off-leash in many large public parks (that don’t have dog runs) before 9:00 AM and after 9:00 PM. (Sadly, as any fellow Shiba owned will tell you, I can not take advantage of this cool privilege so Snick and I stay home whenever our friends go to Central Park.) Not long ago, a lawsuit was started to force the Parks Dept. to end this privilege.
I followed a link today to a blog that calls itself "Prospect Park Advocate" and almost gave myself a headache rolling my eyes over and over. Whoever writes this blog is clearly completely clueless about dog behavior and is most likely terrified of dogs. She (I assume she from the writing) posts pictures of well behaved dogs playing and exploring the park with their owners and then says things like "…that they have no problem with fighting unleashed dogs in Prospect Park," (under a picture of dogs wrestling in the snow) and "Can someone explain how an owner is ‘in control’ of their dog when it’s running loose?" (under a picture of the off-leash rules that state owners must be in control of their dogs).
<sigh>
This started off to be a post about how funny I thought it was that the writer thought the two dogs in the snow were fighting, but now I’m frustrated. I don’t understand why people like this think it’s OK to try and take away rights and pleasures from whole groups of people because of their own fears and prejudices.
For more information on what’s happening with the lawsuit, go here.
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Such a pity that the “Prospect Park Advocate” blog doesn’t allow comments. This type of one-way conversation with the world seems such an odd thing to do.
And for the record: I agree with you. The dogs in the snow look to me as if they are playing harmlessly.
Otherwise it would be like pointing to a celeb magazine picture and yelling “Arrgh! I can see Brad’s teeth. He must be about to bite Angelina”.
OK first off the dogs in the pic look like their just having some good ole fashion fun!!! It’s actually heart warming.
Now Heres the part your going to hate:
I have to agree with them about leash laws. Having your dog off of its leash in a public park can and does pose serious problems. even if the dog is friendly. For every dog owner, theres a person afraid of a dog and They have every right to be. Most dogs have the potential to be very dangerous, Unless you have one of those small cute dogs. and people are even afraid of those and they are mega cute. But the problem lies in the fact that they have the potential to be dangerous. I have seen people jump in to busy streets to avoid dogs. People become really stupid when fear is in the picture.
I think there should be dog parks that are only for Dogs and their owners. and not these small crappy dog runs with bad hours, I mean really nice sized parks. If theres a huge sign that says DOG PARK, People afriad of dogs can’t angry when a dog goes zipping past them inside!!!
trev – Obviously, the "prospect park advocate" needs to have a one-sided conversation. Some people aren’t comfortable having their opinions challenged.
Mali – Personally, I agree with you… I think it would be AWESOME to have dog-only parks in the city. Our dog runs are few and far between. (And I am thankful every day that I live near a private run and not one of the smelly city runs.) However, it is completely unrealistic to think that the city could provide such a thing. We already have less square feet of park space per 1,000 people than most cities. We can’t take a disproportionate amount of that space and give it just to dog people.
On the other hand, off-leash time seems like a good compromise to me. It is only allowed in parks that don’t have dog runs and it is only after 9pm and before 9am. It’s basically time sharing between dog people and non-dog people, AND the non-dog people get more parks and better hours!
(We’re only talking about inside certain parks. Leash laws – which I full support – are always in full effect everywhere else.)
NYC is a city of 8 million people, all in 320 miles. You would think people in this city would have the art of compromise down to a science. I enjoy off leash hours every morning. I live in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn and using the park during off leash hours is the only opportunity for my dog, a 20lb Boston terrier, to get his energy out. When my dog is exercised he?s a great obedient apartment dog ?when bored and restless, he becomes destructive and loud, in essence a terrible neighbor ?is the Juniper Park civic committee thinking about these ramifications?
I don?t understand how fear is an underlying justification in this lawsuit. The off leash hours are specific, and from 9pm ? 9am, they fall in a time frame when the park is otherwise unused. A park is an area where nobody NEEDS to be, if you are afraid of dogs ?don?t cut through the park during those hours. I don?t like children, so I avoid the park when school lets out… simple. In my own experience, I never would have felt safe in a dark park at night ?but when there are all these other dog owners out there, I feel safe. And as far as dog attacks -the statistics also speak for themselves ?there were only 2 dog bites reported in the Juniper Park Valley Park in the last FIVE years! Not to mention the city health department reports dog bites are down from about 40,000 in the 1960s to about 5,000 in 2003.
In my opinion we share our parks with a lot worse – bums, deviants and rats….
First off, if anyone bothered to go to the website where the photo originated (it’s credited in the text) you’d find that it was THEIR description of the photo, not mine (“dogparkdogfightlarge.jpg”). Second, my blog is not a forum for discussions, that is why I don’t provide the option for comments. I set it up to offer helpful information to people looking for legal sources, government sources and expert opinions such as those offered by the ASPCA, the Humane Society, the AKC, Leeburg Kennel (Ed Frawley is truly an expert), The Center for Disease Control and “The Urban Hound”.
If you want to run your dogs off-leash in densely populated city parks, change the law. If the local government won’t change the law, follow the valuable information on “The Urban Hound”, get organized and build a fenced dog park.
Finally, I do not hate dogs. I am one of eight children. Over the years we’ve had four dogs, six cats, gerbils, birds, turtles and various other pets. My mother and most of my siblings own dogs. I just spent a week with family where, among other activities, enjoyed hours of play with the dogs. Nobody in my family believes that unleashing their dogs in a city park is a good idea. In fact they can’t understand why anyone who loves their pet would consider it.