Ithaca Dog Park Initiative: The Issues

Susanne Morgan's Off-Leash "Talking Points

(Selected professional sources about off-leash dogs in public open space)

• Reports of Successful Off-Leash Areas and Off-Leash Policy Professionals in the field of parks and recreation recommend integrating off-leash areas into regional park planning. They note that dog owners comprise a large percentage of increasingly urbanized citizens who need to exercise and socialize their dogs off-leash.

  The American Park and Recreation Society point out that since mandatory leash laws are often ignored, "it is often in the best interest of the park system that a compromise be reached fulfilling the needs of both parks and dog owners." (p. 1) They also suggest that designating park areas as off-leash areas reduces violations of the leash law and subsequent public complaints. (p.1).

  The extensive Australian design and management guide for open space recommends including dog access in all planning.

  ...If we truly aspire to catering for the diverse recreation needs of all members of the community (and this is fundamental to recreation planning), then we are obligated to plan for dog owners' needs as well. (Public Open Space and Dogs, 4.2.1)

  They suggest and provide documentation for two additional reasons to recommend such policy. It promotes acceptable canine behavior because problem behavior is reduced when dogs have regular access to exercise and socialization with other dogs and humans. (4.2.2) Planning for dogs in public space also benefits the owners, by promoting more human interaction, as demonstrated in a number of studies. (4.2.3)

  Recent articles in periodicals widely read by professionals report the success of off-leash areas. Parks and Recreation describes the Marin County project undertaken because an estimated "70,000 dogs reside in this Bay Area county... far more than the number of tennis, softball, and soccer players combined." (Johnson, 51) In Marin County a recent survey demonstrated that the typical dog park user visits more than five times a week. (Johnson, 55) The extensive open space area in Boulder Colorado permits dogs, and one study noted that over 21% of visitors to the area exercised their dogs (Bekoff, 24.)

  Numbers of successful off-leash areas in the U.S. are estimated to be over 600, with 400 in planning stages. (Johnson, 55) Vicki Kung, of the website dogpark.com, lists 507 specific parks by state as of June 2001.

• Aggression Incidents of aggression are far more likely to occur near the dog's home. Public Open Space and Dogs cites a study of aggression in dogs and a large-scale surveillance study strongly supporting this effect. (4.1.2)

  The American Parks and Recreation Society reports that in not one of the dog parks from this study has a park experienced any incident resulting in a liability suit... Neither have there been any incidents involving dogs attacKung humans in the dog parks. (Planning Parks for Pets, p. 15)

  The very large Point Isabel dog park compares the number of people bitten by dogs in the park (3 in 7 years) to the number in the City of Berkeley (192 in one year alone.) (Baum)

• Liability The American Parks and Recreation Society recommends that although state laws typically make dog owners legally liable for any injury or damage their dogs cause, an implied consent waiver should be inserted into city ordinances and then posted conspicuously at the dog park. They also cite a Palo Alto parks study comparing liability claims from dog visits (none in 16 years) to swing sets (168 claims annually.) (Planning Parks for Pets, p 16)

  The Australian report states that the municipalities did not report a greater incidence of incidents among unleashed compared to leashed dogs, and did not raise liability as a concern. (Public Open Space and Dogs, 4.1.2)

• Wildlife The effect on wildlife of unleashed dogs is less than expected. Two arguments presented by the Australian report are that little documentation for negative effects exists, and that many other causes, such as human users and park machinery, affect wildlife more than dogs. (Public Open Space and Dogs, 4.1.3)

  A very extensive study in Boulder, Colorado by environmental biologists found that off-leash dogs generally did not travel far off trail, that when they did it was for short periods of time, and that they rarely were observed to chase other dogs, disturb people, chase wildlife, destroy vegetation, or enter bodies of water. (Bekoff and Meaney, 23)

• Sources
  • Public Open Space and Dogs, in A Design And Management Guide For Open Space: Professionals And Local Government, Blackshaw, Judith K. and Jane Marriott, August 1995, http://www.petnet.com.au/openspace/posindex.html

    Planning Parks for Pets, American Park and Recreation Society, 1995, Jennifer Hickes, National Recreation and Park Association, (703) 858-0784 or www.activeparks.org

    Baum, Mitchell, The Point Isabel Video Project, videotape and accompanying literature.

    Bekoff, Marc and Carron A. Meaney, "Interactions among dogs, people, and the environment in Boulder, Colorado: a Case Study," Anthrozoos, 10 (1), 1997.

    Johnson, Rick, "From Bored Walks to Bark Place," Parks and Recreation, January 2000. Kung, Vicki, www.dogpark.com

    Copies of the above sources are available from Susanne Morgan, 277-1511, morgan@ithaca.edu. Tompkins County Dog Owners Group, Updated 7/3/2001 so lots more resources are available now.

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• City Ordinances City Clerk's Dog Do's and Don'ts. Licensing, scooping, barking, etc. Here's the scoop on leashes:

  Leash Laws All dogs in the City of Ithaca must be restrained by an adequate collar and leash when not on the property of the owner or any other person harboring or having custody or control of the dog. Exemption: This provision does not apply to owners whose dogs are off-leash in an area established and designated as an off-leash dog park.

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www.dogpark.com

The online site for off-leash dogs. Calendar of events (nationwide). Digital dogpark (bulletin board). Extensive resources.

www.pupnc.com

People for Unleashed Parks is a group that recently established the first off-leash dog park in Raleign, NC.

www.urbanhound.com

Urbanhound: "the city dog's ultimate survival guide."

You've heard it hundreds of times: People without yards shouldn't have dogs, ever. By which is meant: people living in the City shouldn't have dogs. Rubbish! The City offers dogs plenty of room for hound play.

www.inch.com/~dogs/runs.html

How to Establish a Dog Run -- advice from the guys who fought for the first Dog Park in NYC. Lots of links and resources.

http://www.spcaonline.com/

Tompkins County SPCA Web site. See the article about off-leash dog parks; there is a link to an Acrobat pdf file on http://www.spcaonline.com/sp_dogslife.htm . Or go to the Google html archive version, below.

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:-yF2ql-0KBsJ:www.spcaonline.com/off%2520leash.PDF+&hl=en

"The Case for Space: Tompkins County Needs an Off-Leash Dog Park"; Tompkins County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, September 2002.

http://ithacajournal.com/news/stories/20020719/opinion/254255.html

http://ithacajournal.com/news/stories/20020719/opinion/254255.html "A pack of dogs far preferable to politicians"; Stephen G. Landesman, Guest ColumnistIthaca Journal Friday, July 19, 2002. For dog park, against the 2.8 acre site proposed by the State Park. Points:

• Dog owners are the largest single constituency utilizing the Treman Marina, and they use it year round, fair weather or foul.
• Dogs do not pose a threat to children.
• Dogs, especially retriever breeds, want to swim or wade.
• Dog owners have effectively managed waste, human and canine, at the area of Treman Marina currently used as a dogpark.
• Dog owners have played an important role in monitoring wildlife. Nesting sites and other sensitive areas could be protected by posting signs.
• The proposed site is too small; it is also treeless (and therefore without shade), and without access to water. Heat stroke would be a danger.
• In a large space, dog fights are rare and those that occur are quickly handled. Compressed in a small area, without shade and access to water, more fights are to be expected.
• When dog owners went elsewhere, the smaller dogpark would be pronounced a failure, dealing a setback to off-leash initiatives.