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Citizen complaint of the day: Hole-digging dogs don't belong in the outfield
By adamg on Sat, 06/15/2019 - 11:43am
A concerned citizen files a complaint about unleashed dogs at the ball field off Lamartine Street in Jamaica Plain - and not for the reason you might expect:
We have a persistent problem with dog owners using the baseball field as an off leash park. The dogs often dig holes in the outfield and destroy the field. I have seen kids get hurt trying to make a catch. Please monitor and maybe fine dog owners. I have talked reasonably and they will make all sorts of excuses about how they don't have an off leash space for dogs but really bad for the kids.
DCR, which owns the adjacent Southwest Corridor Park, claims it's really going to build a dog park there.
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Comments
No right to "off leash dog spots"
This is why people start hating dog owners. The excuses. Excuses for not picking up poop. Excuses for digging. Excuses for not paying attention to what their dog is doing.
If you are going to get a dog, maybe first make sure that you have access to places where you can exercise the dog off leash? Maybe think for two seconds about how long it will take you to get to the dog park before adopting?
This is also why coyotes have learned to go after off-leash dogs where they don't belong - their owners are idiots. Sadly, coyotes are what it took to reclaim the fells from the stupid dog owners who turn their dogs loose. Coyotes eating dogs is as natural as running off leash.
rather a broaad brush, eh?
Awfully broad brush you're painting with, there. Kinda like hating white males because they're always shooting up schools....
This is why people start hating dog owners
Yes. THIS IS WHY PEOPLE START HATING DOG OWNERS. That is a simple statement of fact: bad dog owners lead people to hate dog owners. People who let their dogs run lead to large groups of people opposing amenities for dogs and demanding more strongly enforced leash laws.
People who live near parks and reservations are tired of the whole "give me a dog park or else" bullshit. I know I am. I know that my neighbors are.
You need to drop the "not all dog owners" whining and pay attention to what I wrote.
Don't like that? Tough. Because THIS IS WHY PEOPLE START HATING DOG OWNERS.
Unlike "BEING a white/black/etc. male", owning a dog is a CHOICE - not a civil right. You can rehome your dog if you are too lazy to care for it or your living circumstances and the dog's temperament aren't a good match.
Let me be clear
Dog owners are not a class. They are not an organization. They are not a political group. I own a dog but I am not a representative of a group. I don't speak for the group. I will not be held morally, legally or politically accountable for someone else's misbehavior just because that person and I both happen to own dogs.
Only to the extent that people are bigots and shallow reasoners who want to see the world in terms of group membership.
(No subject)
Please educate me Swirly
Since you seem to want to lecture me this evening, please explain what reasonable basis there is for the misbehavior of someone else who owns a dog, or of fifty other people who own dogs, for that matter, to cause anybody to hate me, also a dog owner.
I am a responsible dog owner.
I am a responsible dog owner. I clean up after my dog, I don't let him do his business on other peoples lawns & am respectful to others without dogs. I also pick up the garbage strewn about by humans and their offspring (never any outrage on UHUB about that though...shocker).
I pay for your bike lanes (which you so passionately feel is your "right"), playgrounds, schools, roads, etc. I want you to have your bike lanes Swirly b/c I want you to be safe, think they are beneficial to our community and will help ease car traffic.
I want more playgrounds and better public schools to be built even though I have never and will never use them. I am happy to pay more taxes for items I don't use b/c I realize they are a benefit for others and make communities better.
Boston is not dog friendly and as someone has falsely claimed below Boston has not created dog parks where dog owners won't take them "b/c they are too precious." A parcel of land as big as a stamp is not a dog park. No matter how you try and sell it. For some reason people forget that dog owners pay just as much in taxes as everyone else & we generate a lot of income for people in this city. There is no reason that we shouldn't be able to have some large open spaces for our dogs to run and us "idiot owners" to chat.
I pay Brookline to use their parks. This is $ that Boston could be getting (yes, Brookline, the land of rules & regs is far more progressive than Boston). There is no reason Boston can't do the same thing. I drive 30 minutes away on the weekends to take my dog to areas that he is welcome and then buy coffee, breakfast, lunch in those areas. This is $ that would be spent in Boston.
Your post has showed your "As long as I get mine the rest of you can screw" mentality. I didn't think you were one of those but yet here we are.
Have safe rides in the bike lanes that are being formed and thank us "idiot" tax paying dog owners that help fund your safe travel.
Building a dog park will do
Building a dog park will do next to nothing. Dog owners will say their precious dog doesn't play well with other dogs, or that its too far from their house, or whatever. As Boston created dog parks the problem of unleashed dogs in Boston has not at all gotten better. Until there is enforcement with fines it will just keep getting worse. Dogs attack and kill many more people than sharks, but our state is doing a lot more after a few shark attacks to prevent others the many dog attacks.
Tax them
Every dog, $300 a year to own a mutt in the city.
I'm all for it but let's take
I'm all for it but let's take it a step further...
No more tax credits for having children.
People that drive...raise the gas tax, no more free parking anywhere in the city...yearly fee of $500 to park on a public street.
Bikes - tax them. $100 a year for a bike license
A lot of us who own dogs favor stronger enforcement
I've been to a bunch of meetings where people wring their hands over "what to do about antisocial behavior by dog owners," and my answer is, consistently, "Jesus Christ, this is obvious, start issuing fucking citations to the scofflaws." but for some reason we never get anywhere.
The specific problem...
... is that, instead of punishing the scofflaw dog owners by ticketing and fining them, attendees at these meetings seem to want to punish the law-abiding dog owners; the ones who leash and pick up after their dogs and who use the dog park, by threatening to close the dog park.
Makes about as much sense as, "If people don't stop double parking on Broadway, we're going to punish automobile drivers by closing the public parking lot."
Franklin Park, southwest
Franklin Park, southwest corridor, jamaica pond. They are all full of offleash dogs. And coincidentally they are full of dog shit all over the walking paths.
I saw a deer in franklin park this week and had to yell at some dbag to leash his dog so it didn't attack the deer.
A year or so ago an off leash
A year or so ago an off leash dog killed a beloved great blue heron Leverett Pond. Disgusting.
Why should anyone be
Why should anyone be concerned about a dog going after a random deer? It's not like that deer is someone's pet or an endagered species.
A wild deer in Franklin Park
Is frigging historic! Are you sure you are from Boston anon?
I'm at the Pond a lot. I don
I'm at the Pond a lot. I don't see dog shit everywhere nor an inordinate amount of unleashed dogs. I can't speak on Franklin Park.
The last time I went to that
The last time I went to that park, which is basically only a little league field, I found it a mine field of dog feces. I was glad that my Regan league team didn't play at that field.
xoxo