have you been ticketed for leash law violation?

of course not. I would never let my dog off the leash unless it was by the law.

(yes, yes I have. I'll PM you).

You might want to try heading to the Nethermead around 5:30 on a weekday evening. It's not an official off-leash time (but if it were, it would probably help keep folks from walking dogs off-leash in the rest of the park) but lots of folks tend to head there with their pups. You can probably find some folks who have gotten tickets.

I'll throw in that there are many other activities that seem to not get ticketed at all in the park, despite being against the rules, that are much worse abuses of the park. Before I had a dog, I tended to head to dog-heavy areas b/c they were safer in my opinion, and in the opinion of several park employees that warned me against my running routes and advised to stick with dogs.

The worst damage to the park seems to be from sports, but that's part of what the park is for so who cares, right?

Rambling ranting over.

Drug selling. Sex in the woods. These are definitely illegal activities that happen in the park that are probably more dangerous to other users than most stuff. All the teenagers and previously mentioned folks that hang out and trash the "bird areas", the places fenced off around the creeks--surely that's not good for the planned regrowth and wildlife.

But the ones that bother me more are the bbq folks. Have you ever, on an evening walk in the park, stepped in hot coals that someone grilling in a no-grilling area, just dumped on the walkways or open grass? It sucks. Countless times I've witnessed folks grilling in these areas and dumping the coals which are dangerous to more than my feet, but also to children and dogs. I have never seen someone grilling out in the middle of Long Meadow approached by a cop/park cop.

And like I said, the ball players really rough up the grass. All the little oval-shaped areas of dust in places like the Long Meadow and the Nethermead are from people playing things like soccer and frisbee. I've spend hours a day in that park for years, and I have no doubt about what's causing the bare patches. I'm glad we have a park for such activities, but I think it's hilarious when people bitch about dogs destroying the park when you can barely tell where they've been other than their prints in the mud in the spots where humans have killed all the grass.

Anyway, to the OP, go to the park when the dog folks are there to get more input. Most of them are pretty friendly. I'm guessing a tiny portion of folks who participate in unleashing their dogs are here.


Also, the grillers and picnickers leave soo much trash. It's disgusting in the park in the summer. People can't bother to pick up after themselves, of if the bins are full to have the decency to at least bag their trash or take it out. The dog folks tend to pick up a lot more than they leave--besides their dogs' poop, I see them constantly bagging trash that others left.

I'm not against ticketing any ticketable offense. We know the rules, whatever.

I just think it's silly that some of the extremists on the anti end of off-leash are just sure dogs are destroying the grass and spreading disease. I have no problem with frisbee, etc--I was just saying that it's not the dogs that destroy the grass (as the folks who hate dogs, and happen to read this forum claim).

I don't think it would be that hard to write a ticket for people that grill in no grilling areas--they aren't hidden and the hot coal dumping was out of control last summer (I use the park a lot, dog or no dog, and feel that hot coals trash don't have to be strewn everywhere).

I am curious to see the final article about off-leash.

I'm with Opossum Queen on this one. On summer weekend mornings, there are literally heaps of trash dumped all over the park. I don't think it would be that hard for the Parks Police to do a little foot patrolling around dusk, when most people are packing up. And people barbecuing all over the meadow is simple enough to stop, and they present much bigger safety/pollution hazard than a dog who's still off leash at 10 minutes after 9.
There are plenty of inconsiderate dog owners out there and I make no apologies for them, but I think a sizable percentage of us try to make up for the "bad seeds" (I've seen plenty of dog owners clean up messes left by someone else's dog). I don't see many picnickers cleaning up someone else's garbage, or BBQ people pointing out to others where the permitted areas are.
Actually, for the OP/reporter, there's a notoriously bad dog owner who lets her two rat terriers offleash in forbidden areas of the park every day so they can hunt the poor little park critters. Her name is Marcia and she lets her dogs run loose in the wooded areas between the zoo and the east side of Center Drive, around 9 am most mornings. She's always carrying a sharp-edged walking stick to help flush game for her two dogs. The Parks Dept. claim they've fined her many times but to no avail. Personally, I don't think a fine goes far enough - she's treating the park like it's her personal game preserve.

bklynpetunia wrote:
Actually, for the OP/reporter, there's a notoriously bad dog owner who lets her two rat terriers offleash in forbidden areas of the park every day so they can hunt the poor little park critters. Her name is Marcia and she lets her dogs run loose in the wooded areas between the zoo and the east side of Center Drive, around 9 am most mornings. She's always carrying a sharp-edged walking stick to help flush game for her two dogs. The Parks Dept. claim they've fined her many times but to no avail. Personally, I don't think a fine goes far enough - she's treating the park like it's her personal game preserve.

Do her dogs ever catch things?! Thats terrible.

bklynpetunia wrote:

Do her dogs ever catch things?! Thats terrible.

Yes, they do. I'm sure they're also disturbing ground-nesting birds. I keep hoping she'll run afoul of some vigilante birdwatcher, but no such luck. Her behavior is truly horrible and she gives all the dog-owners in the park a bad name.

Not sure if this is the same story, but a reporter has been out at off leash looking for folks with tickets and here's a NY Post story on the subject:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05102009/news/regionalnews/he_shooed_the_pooch_168519.htm

Something related to this is apparently going to be on Ch. 7, abc, news at 5 tonight.

I absolutely hated seeing dogs off leash and hated their owners just as much. Ignorant fools all of them.

Why? I owned a Chow for 15 years. The sweetest, most loving dog ever. But she had a very strong dislike for other dogs. I have no idea why (I asked but she wouldn't say). Therefore I *never* let her off leash, lest she ended up hanging off of some other dogs neck.

So there we were minding our own business, when happy-go-lucky cute dog off leash would come running over to my dog. I would have to immediately prepare for the attack the my dog was about to make. Ignorant off leash dog owner would then say "Oh dont worry....my dog is friendly".

Mine isnt moron!! Get a clue!