Fort Steilacoom Dog Park Continues Steps Toward Realization - Despite Concerns

The clock is ticking and we appear to be getting closer and closer to realizing another dog park.  Some neighbors of the soon-to-be-here Fort Steilacoom Dog Park aren’t big fans of the project.  A story in the News Tribune lays out their arguments, which appear to be coming from people that have never hung out in a dog park before.

They worry about aggressive dogs, constant barking and the smell of dog waste.

We’ve spent some time in dog parks.  We’ve seen the self policing nature of community dog parks.  To be honest, the self regulating nature of the dog parks is often much more extreme that it needs to be.  Barking is sometimes tolerated, but often not for long.  I’ve never seen dog waste as a problem.  Aggressive dogs are always removed from the parks by the other owners that don’t want them around.  This last point is actually a bit of a sore point for me as some owners seem to want to remove owners of dogs that might be aggressive.  It’s the dog park equivelant of racial profiling.  Any time there has been a problem between dogs that couldn’t be sorted out, one of the dogs has left the park.  Dog park users, in our experience, have always gone above and beyond the call of duty to keep their off leash parks safe and open. 

The more dog parks we have and the more dogs we can get to visit them, the more socialized our city’s dogs will be.  Dogs sitting at home on the couch or in a backyard don’t learn how to be nice to other dogs or meet new people. 

Link: Plenty of bark but no bite against dog park – The News Tribune

Mentioned Previously: Dog Park Goodness