Dog Owners' Responsibilities

Vancouver is a superlatively beautiful city. We are lucky to have so many beautiful parks. Vancouver keeps growing and growing in population so everyone needs to be respectful of our community space.

Dog poo, stinky piles of it are in all of the parks I go to in Vancouver. I see people at parks with their dog's and their plastic poo baggies. When it comes time for their dog to go the bathroom, I see the dog's owner looking around while their dog is taking a poo, to see if someone is watching. If nobody were watching, I would bet they leave that smouldering turd for some poor soul to step in. Or, if someone is watching, they ditch the baggie in a bush down the street. I have seen this many times. This is even grosser,''cause how is the poo going to decompose, and who do these people expect will pick it up?

On the weekend I went out to Pacific Spirit Park near UBC with my two year old son Sebastian. I thought we would take a lovely walk through the woods. As we entered one of the most beautiful parks in Vancouver the first thing I saw is (can you guess?) a big stinky pile of dog poo. It had already been stepped on so it was smeared all over the entrance to the path. Through the rest of the path I saw lots of dog poo and abandoned poo baggies. It made me feel sick. God forbid Sebastian step off the path for fear of a leaf that may have landed on top of a fresh loaf of poo.

It is also very scary for a mother when dogs are running all over the trails without a leash. Sebastian was playing with a stick. He was pretending to use it as a fishing pole. A German shepherd came running over and ripped it out of his hands. The dog's owner then came over and broke Sebastian's 'fishing' pole in half, gave the dog half and Sebastian the remaining part. After that I spent most of my time carrying Sebastian, because there were Pit Bulls and all sorts of dogs running freely, and at times unattended.

Dog owners always say their dog's are wouldn't hurt a fly but I have been bitten three times. On one of the occasions I was exactly Seb's age. The owner assured my parent's that the dog, a rottweiler, was completely passive. It is a familiar story. Sebastian has been nipped at a few times. So I just don't believe it anymore.

I love dogs. I have had some while I was growing up. But I think dog owners should be more responsible in the city. Everyone should be able to enjoy the Parks. With so many dog's running through the parks each day, everyone needs to be more responsible pick up their dog's poo and keep their dog's under control. I support responsible pet ownership, but we can stop highlighting the landscape with scenes like the one above.