October 15, 2007
New Dog Park Rules Should Allow More Off-Leash Time
Mark down an initial battle victory to the owners in the long and strained D.C. doggy wars. The Examiner reports on a change in the regulations governing the establishment of off-leash dog parks in the District that should make it easier to create fenced-in spaces for dogs to play.
Dog owners in the city have long complained about a dearth of spaces where they could legally let dogs off their leashes to get exercise. Among many reasons for this, one was an arcane statute still on the books that required that a dog exercise area’s sponsor group obtain a written certification from the Department of Health’s rodent control division that the nearby area is free of rats. This proved so difficult to achieve that the creation of a new dog park was virtually impossible. This provision has now been removed.
Don't expect dozens of brand-new off-leash dog parks to pop up all over the city right away, though. It's still going to be an uphill regulatory battle to establish new parks, with the typical fight at the ANC level likely to take around one year. A proposed dog park must be sponsored by a community group which would partner with DPR for maintenance of the park and enforcement of its rules. However, community groups no longer need be registered non-profits, and are no longer required to finance the parks all by themselves. Anyone interested in creating a fenced-in dog exercise area should contact DPR to get the ball rolling.
Photo by Kyle Gustafson
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I nominate Franklin Park and Mcpherson Square. Maybe a fenced-in dog park will discourage the panhandlers from using it as a public toilet.
Or they might just wise up and buy dog costumes.
if more dog parks mean less dogs crapping in my front yard, then awesome.
only i know my crappy (literally) neighbor will never stop to stoop after her dogs chewbacca and brownie (not their real names)
I like that picture. With the guy's knee there, it's like the dog's saying, "You want me to lick peanut butter off your what? Dude, I'm a dog!"
Monkeyrotica: Franklin Square and Mcpherson Square are administered by the National Park Service, so the new regs won't apply there.
Your comment Monkey. So not cuteoverload.
*returns to pb&j sandwich*
TigerFight--
We had a guy in our Lincoln Park neighborhood who refused to pick up his dog's crap. One of us followed him home one day, and then spread the word, and the next week he woke up to every other dog's crap on his front lawn.
We didn't have an issue after that.
There's a small "park" (a swath of triangle shaped grass) where S Street meets New Hampshire meets 17th Street NW. No fence and I don't know if it's a city regulated dog park of any kind. But that's how it is used. Dogs run free, leashless, and somehow know to stay within the grassy area.
I've never seen a dog run outside of the area, never seen one bother anyone walking by and never seen one run into the road. Plus, it's an adorable sight to see on my way home from work every day.
I want to hang out there and pet all the cute dogs, but I'm afraid that would be sort of creepy, since I don't have a dog of my own:
"Which one's yours?"
"Oh, none. I'm just here to watch."
hey, Go 'Cuse! Class of '92 over here!
God, one little picture of Otto and I'm all Orangeman over here. And to think I knew the guy who wore the Otto outfit, back in the day. You'd think memories of dried puke and piss in that thing would keep me from getting all nostalgic. But no.
Sweet!
It's actually a combination of Otto AND Carmelo; "Carmelotto," if you will (Otto's got cornrows and a sweatband -- kind of hard to see in 100 x 100 but you can see a bigger version here.
I grew up in Cortland, south of Syracuse, so when I moved to DC I ditched the cows but kept the orange.
"...one was an arcane statute still on the books that required that a dog exercise area’s sponsor group obtain a written certification from the Department of Health’s rodent control division that the nearby area is free of rats."
This was not an arcane regulation. Maybe draconian, but it was only "on the books" starting in 2007.
Also, the reason dog parks didn't exist before was simply that until 2006, DC law made it illegal to allow dogs off leash on any public land. Thus dog parks would have been illegal.
Ah, Cortland. I have a story about Cortland, NY, but it's not fit to be told here.
voteprime: Go pet the pups. We don't have a dog either so we go to Lincoln Park all the time. Half the dog owners are too busy talking on cell phones to care; the other half think it's cute.
BTW, I've been to Cortland and seen the Cardiff Giant.
Seeing as a lot of dogwalkers in DC refuse to clean up after their pet, I can only hope that DPR has a longterm contract with Doody Calls.