Insurgency Position Policy: Dog Parks

With battles over public space raging across North America, the Canine Insurgency would like to take a moment to clarify its position on dog park reform. Look forward to more detail dog park ideas in future postings.

Dog Park Position:

• Dogs have a right to responsible freedom in parks and on city streets. That the right to that freedom is no different than those held by the pigeons, the squirrels, and every other animal including human beings.
• A portion of every public park, unless the park was specifically designed for children, must have a dog designated area, where dogs can run and play off-leash.
• All dog designated areas require at the very least, a fenced pen for the training and nurturing of puppies and restricted animals. Pen sizes will of course vary depending on the park.
• With in every neighbourhood there must be a long run area for larger breed dogs, and a long run fenced pen for the training of young and restricted animals.
• Dog designated areas, where ever possible, should have a designated potty area, with posted information on; training a dog to use the potty area, proper waste disposal and park responsibility.
• Potty areas must be properly serviced by the city including garbage pick-up and routine sanitization, as well as provide access to drinking water for human and canine.

If the city’s policy isn’t talking about these measures as part of a long term management strategy, then the policy lacks any robust nature and will be destined to failure.

Park Battles and Heavens

Allen Gardens

Is a good park with a large off-leash area, but with the usual lack of foresight the city neglected to build a fence of any kind along the Jarvis Street which is almost a highway with its 6 lanes. dogs are dying every season. It also has a lot of vagrant activity, that makes dog owners uncomfortable. There was even a story of a dog being hospitalized after finding a piece of crack and eating it. The park needs redevelopment.





Riverdale Park

This is doggie paradise. No roads, no leash, no hassle. Only fun and play. On a Saturday you might see 20+ dogs at a time all day long and there are lots of big dogs. The off-leash rules are:

• shared space (as you can see there are a number of baseball diamonds)
• off-leash in the spring, summer, and fall as shown on the picture, and the part of the park on top of the hill is "on-leash" during that time (its a water play area for kids); then in the winter when the kids are on the toboggan hill, the top part is off-leash.
  

Jarvis Schoolyard

This is the disputed area. Its a poorly kept school yard field and track used regularly by up to 50 dogs. The yard is big and well fenced, perfect for young small and large dogs that need to run in a safe area. It is the only yard of this nature in a radius of a 20 minute walk.








Monpegue Parkette

This park is a bit of a local affair, but all dogs and dog owners are welcome. Its small and has a fence along the road, backs onto a set of houses and is flanked by 2 buildings. One of the buildings has the charge of maintaining the park because its parking garage is build below it. The park could use some work, and the people generally pick up although you might not think so. There are just so many dogs using this park that you're bound to have some midnight misses. The park is free of undesirable activity common in the neighbourhood because there is almost always someone there with a dog.


Watch the whole video series from the beginning!


More parks will be added soon. To learn more about dog parks, check out this list.