Blamblog - Brett Lamb's Blog

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Dog Hell Redux

If you're a dog owner, you're always aware that your dog is putting things in his or her mouth. You hope that they're not eating things like antifreeze, but you know it's possible. But people who try to poison dogs in public spaces tend to forget that other creatures like to put things in their mouths, like children ...

All you can really do is minimize your risks and as I've mentioned before, that's why we stopped taking Zack to Dog Hill at High Park years ago. In every way, Dog Hill is the worst setting for dog recreation. It consists of a bunch of picnic tables on top of a sandy hill with poorly-defined boundaries and the setting encourages dogs to run around together in wild bunches and there's no space for owners to actually play with their dogs ... in fact, the space discourages games like fetch, etc.

The location, right in the centre of the park, ensures that visiting dogs are always in everybody's face. The public sees the dogs at their worst: running around in packs acting like idiots while their owners sit on the picnic tables.

What's amazing about the situation -- which was just reviewed -- is that there's a really simple solution. There is a children's playground in a depression on the eastern edge of the park. It's an ideal space for the kids. There's a similar under-used spot close to the corner of Bloor and Keele that would be ideal for a dog play space. It's a well-defined grassy space and it's great for fetch.

But wait, there's more!

That spot links directly to the trail that leads to the paved road that is also a popular and appropriate off-leash area. That road could be used as a link to a second dog area somewhere on the southeast portion of the park. Having two dog spaces on the edges of the park would reduce the dog traffic on the nature trails and focus the dog traffic on less sensitive areas. Two dog areas would also dilute the number of dogs in one spot, reducing the concentration of undesirable behaviour.

When the issue was under review, nobody even considered moving the dog area from the centre of the park. There are obviously strong personalities with no sense steering this issue. Poison or no poison, we'll keep avoiding Dog Hill.

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