I will probably not use the dog park for my dog because she doesn’t always do well with other ones, but I have complained to the city in the past about the number of off leash dogs that come up to my leashed dog and makes my dog upset. I am very glad they will finally enforce what has been the law for a long time.

A dog park will allow me to actually walk my dog with my kids to Lake Boren. I can’t do this now because there are so many unleashed dogs all over the park. And 95% of them comes up to my dog and I have to pick her up because I fear for a fight as she tries to protect me and the kids. The owners always apologize and say their dog is friendly. Unfortunately, when a leashed dog encounters an unleashed dog, it is “fight or flight” as our dog trainer says. Since our dog can’t flee because she is tied up, she has to fight because she feels threatened.

A dog park should eliminate unleashed dogs in the park. If one is built, I strongly agree there should be a separate area for small dogs. We stopped taking my 20 lb dog to dog parks because she was by far the smallest dog and most dog parks don’t have a separate area. That is probably why she has become dog aggressive recently because she can’t socialize with other dogs off leash.

Please put in a well fenced off leash area for our furry friends to play and for their owners to meet new people! It will only enhance Newcastle & our beautiful park.. You have OUR VOTE! Thank you.. Sue W.

If the city wants to impose hefty fines on rule-breakers, will they do it across the board, including kids who use bikes and skateboards on tennis courts and those who don’t clean up after themselves or just single out the dog owners?

I do not believe that the couple people who complained and screwed it up for the rest of us had any right to do that. Sure, there are rules, but there are always reasonable diviations, so unless those complainers are a law-obedient perfection who never ran a yellow light, talked on theirs cell while driving or ever exceeded a speed limit, they have no business complaining about others bending a rule.

I would LOVE to have Lake Boren park allow dogs off leash but do understand that could require $$ to fence and maintain the area. I would be willing to pay for the use of the facility if it provided room for my dog to run, perhaps splash in the lake, and befriend other dogs.

I think the park is big enough to accommodate both dog owners and non dog owners as many other cities do. It’s also not very “green” to have to get the car to drive to another location for off leash.

Four years ago I got another reason to go to LBP when I got Bo. Being a responsible dog owner, I kept him on leash until I felt assured he would obey verbal commands. I’ve been taking Bo to LBP every day, off-leash, for nearly all of the past 4 years. He’s well known as the squirrel-chaser and also for being one of the best behaved dogs around. We love LBP, it’s his “hood” and where I do the majority of my socializing.

There has been little activity in the park during the winter, so we dog owners gathered under one of the roofs out of the rain to visit while our dogs played, watched squirrels in the trees, chased balls, etc. We use the park regardless of the weather. As stated before, when the playground side is being used, we take our dogs to the south side of the park.

I think it’s unreasonable for the city council to act on the few complaints without hearing from the rest. Since the enforcement has begun, this is the first opportunity I’ve seen for the other side of the coin to voice our opinions. I’m sure the pro-dog voices will far outweigh the anti-dog complaints.

Again, as stated before, most of the dog owners I know are responsible and the dogs are well behaved and respond on command. Some of the dogs obey far more quickly and with no whining than some of the children in the park; I know mine does.

The park should be for everyone. For some of us, our dogs are our family. Medina worked out a simple solution without changing the appearance of the park and with very little cost. I don’t see why Newcastle can’t do the same.

I have now learned that I could be fined for allowing my two boys a bit of running room, they are both minature greyhounds, that they need to stay fit and healthy. The large dog parks are dangerous for this breed as their legs are fragile, and typcially small dog parks (when you can find one) don’t allow enough running room.

If building an off-leash area is a consideration, perhaps a gate between the small and large dog ares could be incorporated. This was done at dog park in Kansas City and if too large, or rambuncous, dogs came into the large area I simple called my dogs into the small area. It gave small dog owners the option of controlling the situation.

Or, perhaps posting certain times of the day where dogs may be off-leash if they are under voice command. Early in the morning and later in the evening for those that have to work but still need to exercise their dogs. Pioneer Park on Mercer Island allows dogs off-leash if they are under voice-command and it works very well.

Thank you,
Donna Burger