Can we talk about the law against dogs in Lakewood parks?

[Brad Hutchison]

Wow, David. Two posts, two horribly awesome puns. Well done.

I'll use "must", if I must. I would like to know the original motivation behind outlawing dogs in parks. I have a hard time believing that it's really about feces, but I don't know why else people would complain about leashed dogs in parks.

I still think putting a few bag dispensers around would help - even Crocker Park has those. I think most people that don't pick up poop just forgot a bag.

I know a source of 100% biodegradable bags that told me they'd work something out on dispensers if the city was interested. (The website I listed above somewhere).

[Beajay Michaud]

I still think putting a few bag dispensers around would help - even Crocker Park has those. I think most people that don't pick up poop just forgot a bag.

Could you put a dispensers around the corner from the Doggie Day Care on Detroit. I feel like the poop-police, I hand out bags as the owners are walking away from their fresh piles...For some reason they get really pissed. Hey but its better then stepping in it later.

[Valerie Molinski]

I still think putting a few bag dispensers around would help - even Crocker Park has those. I think most people that don't pick up poop just forgot a bag.

Could you put a dispensers around the corner from the Doggie Day Care on Detroit. I feel like the poop-police, I hand out bags as the owners are walking away from their fresh piles...For some reason they get really pissed. Hey but its better then stepping in it later.

You should tell the owner about it and ask her to pass it on to her clients. She is very nice and I am sure she would do that.

[Will Brown]

To some degree, the city has taken the question of whether we can keep pets our of our hands. My sister keeps horses, but if she lived in Lakewood, she could not keep them in her yard. I suspect that if a Lakewood homeowner decided to keep five or ten dogs, the city would find a way to stop him. But they have left us the ability to keep a reasonable number of pets. The problem, it seems to me, is people who keep pets, but don't keep them home. On our street, some dog walkers carry a bag and clean up after their pet, but some consistently don't. One "neighbor" likes to keep his yard neat, so he puts his dog on a leash and brings it down to my end of the street so it can crap in someone else's yard. His attitude is dogs will be dogs, and choose where to crap and pee. My attitude is his dog is on a leash, but there are two ends to that leash, and apparently the dog is on the smart end.

I think someone who keeps dogs in a congested location like Lakewood is doing the dog not favor, as the places the dog can get some real exercise are very few. I have a hard time believing the argument that a dog owner needs to take his dog to a park for exercise, but does keep the dog on a leash. The dog can get that much exercise walking on the sidewalk; I think it more likely the owner unleashes the dog in the park, "just this once", and releashes it when they are leaving the park.

Its interesting. My wife and I spent some time in Paris, certainly a crowded city, and the dogs there were so well trained it was amazing; people would bring their dog into a restaurant and it would just lie silently under the table, with no begging, no noise, and no attention to the dog under the next table. Yet in Paris, the dogs are not allowed in the parks. They have fences and little gates that allow people through, but keep dogs out. That seemed strange to me, since their dogs are all so well trained. I have no idea why they have such a policy.

If dogs here were as well trained, I would have no problem with them. But most dogs I see here are barely under control, and I think keeping them out of the people parks is a good idea. I think Lakewood has done enough by creating the dog parks, especially if the dogs bark enough to upset those snobs on the other side of the river.

[Lynn Farris]

Two of our problems in Lakewood are money and safety. This is right smack dab in the center of both of those issues.

We have heard complaints about the safety in parks and the cost of maintaining them.

Do we use more police and therefore is it more expensive for police to monitor the presence of dogs in the parks or for them to monitor owners not picking up after their dogs? I think it would be about the same.

Would more people be in the parks if dogs were allowed there? Would more people walking their dogs in the park increase or decrease the rowdy element? I tend to think the majority of people walking their dogs would increase the people there and should in general decrease the rowdy element. But I don't know. Maybe no one knows.

It might be interesting to run a test on this. Allow dogs at 1 park and calculate the results. Less police problems? More police needed, less police needed? How much problems is dog waste? As opposed to bird waste, squirrel waste, goose waste, etc. More dogs = less geese. And no one is cleaning up after the geese. Run a test for a month or a summer and publish the results. Could be a Urban Studies project. OR has any research been done based of these issues before?

I think you are absolutely right for the most part Brad about the presence of bags helping people remember to pick up after their dogs. Any idea of the cost on this?

[Brad Hutchison]

I think you are absolutely right for the most part Brad about the presence of bags helping people remember to pick up after their dogs. Any idea of the cost on this?

Not exactly. The site I've been talking about - http://www.poopbags.com - sells 100% biodegradable bags. The best deal is $0.10/bag. I'm waiting to hear on the dispensers.

Edit:

I heard back from the president of Poopbags.com. He said:

The dispensers are $124.00/ea. and includes free shipping. If they buy several, or bags to stock them, we can work out a package deal.

For what it's worth...

[Brad Hutchison]

bump

[Brad Hutchison]

Granted, I havent lived here too long, and I did know that Lakewood Park has signs that say "no dogs.' But I had never seen one as Madison Park (I usually enter from the Madison side and checked again last night and didnt find one- apparently, there is one on the OTHER side of the park posted).

Hate to burst your bubble, Valerie, but I walked by Madison Park on Madison the other day and there IS a sign. It's in the parking lot, about 10-12 feet up. It has a silhouette of a sitting dog that looks like Scooby Doo, inside a red circle with a line through it. Not sure how you missed it!

I was thinking, if we ever get back to the point when dogs are allowed in parks again, I bet you could get local pet businesses (vets, groomers, pet stores, etc.) to buy the poop bag dispensers (maybe the bags too) and put a little advertising placard on it.

I really think that would make a difference in how much poop is left on the ground.

[Valerie Molinski]

Hate to burst your bubble, Valerie, but I walked by Madison Park on Madison the other day and there IS a sign. It's in the parking lot, about 10-12 feet up. It has a silhouette of a sitting dog that looks like Scooby Doo, inside a red circle with a line through it. Not sure how you missed it!

GRRRRRRRR!


Well, Brad... I didn't see it because I walk from my house to the park. I do not drive there, so I would not have seen it from the parking lot location. I entered the park on the path right next to the library/pool house area.

Damn you, man!

[Brad Hutchison]

I'm 6' 4" so I guess I have an advantage... it's pretty high up there. There are no words on it, so maybe you could say you thought it only applied to animated Great Danes.