Dog parks don't get done in time

darkmilk (@ #16): thanks for useful link!

drop kicks who can’t control their dogs but STILL refuse to keep them on-lead spoil it for all users! It isn’t good enough to simply apologise when your dog has just jumped all over a passer-by (especially when said dog has just come out of water), or ripped apart a pet cat or bitten someone…

I have been to the one at Ford and it is fantastic.. SO great for the dogs and the owners…

Kind of like a drink down at the pub for dogs (the social aspect of it) hehehe

Oops, and I am still feeling the effects obviously!

*hehe*

That drunken crowd practice will stand Owen in very good stead should he be elected to the Legislative Assembly. We were doing him a big favour. Owen owes us big for this! Big, I tell you!!

Hee hee. ‘Skin kids’ and ‘hairy siblings’.

I hope I never have hirsute offspring, because my chinese crested may fall into the more flattering category.

More wasted, wasted money. This town is becoming more like a circus everyday. The sooner the clowns get voted out the better.

All, you are still allowed to let your dogs run wild in the old pine forests even if there are no pines there.

+1 Informative, for “sighthounds” and “skin kids”, neither of which I’d heard of before.

I’d never heard of that 10m play equipment rule.

It actually makes sense, but how can they fine people if noone even realises it is a rule?

darkmilk thanks for the link, great map.

Like CHW I thought there were fines for dogs within 10m of playground equipment when others are using it but according to the map that is not true. One area I regularly walk doggy in goes past a playground and I call doggy in for the leash in that area. I see the playground is marked clearly on the map as leash-free (other playgrounds nearby are marked on the map as dog-prohibited). So it doesn’t appear to be a blanket rule regarding playgrounds. The playground is definitely older than the map!

Yeah, it gets old quickly to have a bastard dog decide it wants to head for the hills – and noooooooo, I am not an ignoramus who can’t train a dog, I have sighthounds that are notoriously reluctant to obey a recall.

Also – ovals are fine, as are parks – but there are a lot of people who do not like dogs, and who make it blindingly obvious that they wish you and your hairy friends would fark off somewhere else. And there are fines for dog wranglers who have their dogs within ten metres of playground equipment/on an oval or sporting ground when other (humans) are using it…etc

And, no, I don’t think fancy playground equipment is at all necessary: not for dogs, anyway! Maybe some just next to the dogpark, also enclosed in a fence, so that the small skin kids can have something to do while their dog-besotted parent supervises their hairy siblings.

But, pleeeeeeeease!!! Can we have a few more enclosed areas specifically for off leash dogs??? Just a fenced area, forget the naff dog equipment!

PS: Shame on you Bluebell – take your dog shit home to your own bin, you are not doing dog owners any favours dumping in other peoples’ bins!

I am fortunate enough to have a couple of lead-free areas nearby and take advantage of it on a daily basis.

Having said that, if you cannot recall your dogs, you shouldn’t let them off-lead. Having a fence around an area may stop your dog running onto the road/attacking cyclists but it won’t help if your dog starts monstering another dog/dog owner.

There are not many areas in Canberra that you can legally have the dog off the leash

Actually, there are heaps of dog off-lead areas in Canberra, have a look at this map. However these are mostly just open areas, not fenced or any other equipment provided.

I’m sure there’s going to be just as many complaints about the noise the puppies are making, and then what type of hours are you allowed to take the dogs there? I’m not saying that I’m against the whole idea, I think it’s great for the dog to have somewhere safe to go. But dropping a silly amount of money doing it, doesn’t really make sense.

I’m still amazed I saw people take dogs to the Nara candle festival along with all the crowd and try and walk them along the path around the candles. It’s a wonder the smaller ones didn’t get stepped on.

Turn into Forde and follow the main road around and it is on the right behind the basketball court. Not a huge area but plenty of room for the dog to run around in and sniff some bums.

Where is this place in Forde it sounds like fun?

PBO said :

One thing that i cannot understand is how these things manage to cost so much. Why a dog park? What is wrong with the oval or just an open area?

There are not many areas in Canberra that you can legally have the dog off the leash so a small fenced off area that you can let the dog run around safely without bothering others is a good thing from my point of view. if they supplied poo bags all the better but it doesn’t take much effort to bring some from home everytime you go for a walk.

What is wrong with the oval or just an open area?

see sepi’s prescient comments @ #1 which were words from my own fingers, damn you sepi!

yup, a fence makes it possible for the more enthusiastically free hounds to gambol about and can also, with appropriate signage and binnage, signal that this is a ‘dogs too’ area to other users.

and i am all for the bags, but remind all doggists that they should really be in the habit of having a bag or two with them any time pooch leaves the yard, anyway…

a cafe attached to dog areas would be a nice touch, if any candidates are reading… ; )

Doggy doo in a bin…..what bin? I carry mine around untill I spy some unsuspecting householder’s bin, left out too long and dump it in that.

Hobart have them everywhere attached to bins

They have bins? Lucky bastards!!

How about dog poo bag dispenses in all parks. Hobart have them everywhere attached to bins. I’m yet to see one in Canberra. A simple idea that dog owners can use to keep all spaces clean. You could even sell advertising rights on the dispenser.

But still, a $1/4M is a hell of a lot of money for a fence, a bin, a few logs to jump over/go under and the odd puddle to roll in.

One thing that i cannot understand is how these things manage to cost so much. Why a dog park? What is wrong with the oval or just an open area?

My dog isn’t going to bite anyone, but he won’t reliably come when called.
He is from the rspca, so he came with bad habits, and a term at dog training improved him, but not a lot.

Not really money well spent. Sure it is nice to have the dog off the leash, and running around like a chook with it’s head cut off. But I’m sure like most dog walkers, their dog is responsive enough to return when called without biting the back tyres of some poor cyclist without the need for a “pen”.

I use the one in Forde that has recently opened and it is a lot of fun. it has various bits of infrastructure for the dogs to run through, jump over etc and it is a good safe place for dogs to run free and socialise without worry for the owners.

Also means that you don’t have to worry about annoying other members of the public who aren’t comfortable with dogs.

A fence so the dogs can’t run off!
And so it is obvious to other park users that the dogs have the right to be there.

I think they’ll be great. Can we have one in the inner north too?