image uploaded by digga_38 on Flickr
A quick heads up to dog owners who frequent Marion Park — a complaint at the substation about dogs running around off-leash means that the police will be stepping up enforcement and issuing $50tickets to offenders. All dogs must be on leashed no longer than 4 feet in length and “controlled by a responsible person.”
Thank you to ANC Commissioner Norm Metzger for letting us know about this through his blog after seeing a notice posted at the PSA 105 meeting last Saturday. I’ve lived by Marion Park for 8 years and this is the first time I’ve heard of people getting ticketed for having their dogs off leash. But the law is the law so until we have an official dog park on the SE side of the Hill, remember that letting your pooch run free in the public parks is illegal. Thankfully construction is underway at the Kingsman Field dog park on the northeast side of the Hill, and the Virginia Avenue Dog Park folks are making progress on their dog park application. It will be some time until anything is built, but we will hopefully have a dog park of our own before too long.
Absolute crap. Marion park is a meeting place for people, and more people who have dogs use this park than anyone else 10 fold. Once the dogs are leashed people will stop coming, and we will see the park sit empty- useless.
One idiot with dog-phobia complains (probably doesn’t even go to parks anyway) and everyone has to stop a tradition that has been going on for decades?
Being able to let your dogs play in Marion park off-leash has been an unwritten tradition for so long I can’t even remember (as someone who spent a lifetime on the Hill can attest).
Hell, the police even recently led a dog costume contest there. I have seen K9 dogs off leash playing. WTF?
PS: Thanks for the heads up THIH!
JMB — I frequented Marion Park often until a few months ago. I didn’t lodge the complaint, but we stopped going there after two off-leash Great Danes kept running up up to me and my dog at full speed every time we went after work. The owner came over but made no attempt to restrain the dogs. I understand they’re playing, but it did make my heart skip a beat when they were running at me, and they really did scare my dog on multiple occasions.
Not everyone who complains about off-leash dogs has a “dog-phobia,” and as usual, a few violators ruin it for the rest of the sensible dog owners who enjoy having a place to let their dogs play.
There is now a fenced-space at the Virginia Avenue Park where dogs and owners can congregate. It just isn’t a dog park in the legal sense of the term.
Laws are generally written and enforced for the common good. This applies to laws regarding pets as well. Running off leash in an open area is just asking for trouble, and the more dogs in the mix, the higher the stakes. Enforcing the law is for the safety of everyone, two and four legged alike.
A few years ago, my dog’s ear was nearly bitten off by an unleashed dog in Lincoln Park. None of the humans using the park as a “meeting place” would fess up as to who actually owned the offending dog. After a couple of dozen stitches and an emergency room vet bill, we stopped using the park that was so close to our house. I would like to see leash laws enforced in all of the open parks on the hill.
My child was knocked down and injured by an overly-enthusiastic off-leash dog at Marion Park. Off leash dogs are a problem at Stanton Park as well. The Park Service has an area fenced in with snow fence in an attempt to regrow the grass, but dog owners regularly use it as a mini-dog park, and the grass never has a chance to grow back.
the law is the law. i don’t care about tradition. responsible dog owners keep their dogs leashed. now if only the police would enforce the LAW at lincoln park. (i love dogs, but i love my kid more and i’m tired of having to run interference btw him and exuberant, unleashed dogs. they may be harmless, but i can’t take the chance that the adorable pitbull heading for my kid just wants to lick his face. leash your dang dogs!!)
Another house burglarized on F Street NE yesterday and you people are complaining about dogs. I’m a hell of a lot more scared about somebody breaking into my house than any of the crap you’re discussing.
Tell the cops to catch the thieves and let the dog catcher take care of the animals.
Dogs by their nature are meant to run and exercise. A well-exercised and socialized dog is better behaved and interactive with people, including children. There is a secure playground/park immediately adjacent to the dog area at the Park. This is obviously the result of some bitter, self-important cantankerous NIMBY bastard (and probably a recently transplanted resident, who knows if its an owner or a renter) who complained for the sake of complaining. I can understand the principal at Tyler requesting that dogs stay off of the children-dedicated schoolyard, but this is just beyond the pale.
From what I understand this may be part of a braoder leash enforcement initiative.