Wondering why there isn't a dog run in Sunset Park?

This is great news. Our dog Enzo loves going to the Owl's Head dog run but we can only get there weekends. To have one in the neighborhood will be awesome. Thanks for the link.

curlygirl wrote: This is great news. Our dog Enzo loves going to the Owl's Head dog run but we can only get there weekends. To have one in the neighborhood will be awesome. Thanks for the link.

Same here. Oscar would love a park (and so would I!!) to run around in after I get home from work. Too bad I didn't get this earlier today so I could have printed them out at work (no printer at home and I love using work resources for personal gain!).

Subject: I am not a dog owner but...

I am not a dog owner but I'd be glad to hand out flyers or sign a petition. I love dogs! I just wish my building's management company also loved dogs

OK, here's your chance to learn more and speak up:

Please be advised that Community Board #7 will hold a Public Hearing on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2009 @ 6:30 P.M. at the Board Office, 4201 4TH AVENUE (ENTRANCE ON 43RD STREET)

•Proposed Sunset Park Dog Run (Adjacent to the 44th Street side of the Recreation Center)

This is one of three public hearings that evening.

I have to agree with nina. I can rarely make the off leash hours except on Saturdays and Sundays - and not always then, either. Sorry, but that's just not enough for my guy. If it came down to it, I'd be willing to give up the off-leash hours in order to have a dog run, that's how much more important it is to me. However, I really don't think that will be the case. I plan on attending the open meeting on the 10th.

I used to live about 2 blocks from Owl's Head in Bay Ridge. Not a huge run and I swear, nearly half the time I was there, we were alone. Now, I know there were plenty of dogs that went there, plenty of times when it was full - but it was never "crowded."

That being said, I say we push to have both. I see no reason to change the off-leash designation that SP has currently just because we open a dog run.

Too bad I can't bring Oscar with me to the meeting. His cuteness would sway anyone!

I have looked into the "both" option some more. Apparently that used to be the Parks Department policy, but it isn't anymore. However, the parks that have both are really big: Pelham Bay Park(The Bronx), Van Cortland Park(The Bronx), Riverside Park(Manhattan) and Forrest Park (Queens).

I asked the commissioner of our park about it, and he said that it's up to the community, but that he wouldn't support having both at all. So I think we can try to get both, but it will be difficult!

I think it would be best to have both off-leash hours and a dog run, but if it's one or the other, dog run wins hands down.

The "belligerant hoodlum" dog may or may not be aggressive, that wasn't in the original post. But as an example of someone with an aggressive dog, well, we've got one. Enzo, our dog, is a leash-aggressive. He is very alpha dominant, and yet is slowly getting socialized with other dogs. On weekends, when I can, I take him to Owl's Head where he does great -- he has dog friends there, he runs and plays, and he's making real progress. That said, I am too nervous to let him off leash in Sunset or any other park -- occasionally he does have a scuffle with another dog, and he spends so little time off-leash in an unconfined area, I worry about having control over him. In the dog run, even when there are issues, it is easy to pull the dogs apart and then take him home if necessary. That's what responsible dog owners do.

I think it's a huge exaggeration to suggest that a dog run will be "misery for [big] dogs who no longer get to run". My dog is 60 pounds -- not the biggest, but by no means small. He, and his doggie friends who are bigger than him, run and play very happily in dog runs, not just Owls Head, but the ones in Park Slope. In fact, I'd say (judging by how excited he gets when we get close to the dog run) that going to the dog run is always the highlight of his weekend. My dog spends almost the entire rest of his week on leash. If we're going to talk about "dog misery", perhaps it's better to think of the many dogs who have no off leash outdoor time at all.

The off-leash hours may be great for the very small community of dogs for whom it is safe to let off leash, and for the owners who have the luxury of being able to take their dogs at those very limited times. That is a minority of the dogs that live in this neighborhood, however. A dog run will allow access to off-leash time for all.

It seems a bit unfair to try and push this idea through even knowing that it would be the end of off-leash hours. Maybe it would be best to hold off while a plan is formulated that could please both people who can't, or don't want to, let their dogs off-leash in the park as well as those of us that responsibly make use of off-leash hours.

As it stands, it seems a bit as though we are going to be punished in order to accommodate people that aren't able to control their dogs.
I don't intend that to sound as harsh as it may seem, but as someone who has enjoyed having plenty of room for my dog to run around in for the past couple of years, it's a bit frustrating to think that that's going to potentially be taken away from us even though we haven't done anything wrong.

Anastasia Beaverhausen wrote: Scratched, I hear what you're saying but what about people like me? Those who can control their dogs but simply cannot make the off-leash hours that the city so graciously gives us? I don't have the luxury of being able to take advantage of the hours except on weekends.

I understand that, and can completely sympathize, as I would definitely like to have more time with my dog in the park as well. I'm not trying to suggest we shouldn't find a way to allow your dog play time either, I'm just asking that you please don't take away the room a lot of us have enjoyed in order to do so.
My dog is one of the dogs that makes use of nearly the entire length of the middle field while playing fetch, so the idea of forcing her into an area only about 1/4 the size of that is not acceptable to me. Add in the fact that cutting down the available area for dogs to play in the park greatly increases the number of dogs that will be in that area at any given moment which essentially decreases the available play-area further, as well as the tendency of other dogs to steal and/or destroy toys... etc etc.

That's why I'm thinking it might be best if everyone could agree to postpone any final decision until a plan can be created that everyone is happy with.
It seems that there may be a lot of people who signed on to the dog-run idea without realizing that it would also mean an end to off-leash hours in the park, and this current plan has the potential to alienate a lot of us who have already created and enjoy a community of dog owners during off-leash hours in the park.

[edited for clarity]

Anastasia Beaverhausen wrote: Please come out on the 10th then. There has to be a way to keep both the run and the off-leash hours.

I will definitely be there, and I certainly hope that we can.

Oh - and I never bring toys to the dog run. That's just asking for a problem!

Exactly my point.
A retriever without something to retrieve is a depressing thought.

But at any rate, thank you (and anyone else) for hearing me out. I really hope the meeting on the 10th can come to an agreeable conclusion.

Hi, All.

Let me try to be more succinct and clear and less like a broken record, which I'm afraid may be causing undue pain for all of us.

I'm simply requesting that all the off-leash lovers, if you can, come out in full support of a dog run that could be available to all throughout the day, that we come together as a dog community, with the clear caveate for you that YOU DON'T SUPPORT IT BEING AT THE EXPENSE OF THE OFF-LEASH HOURS. What we need is your help to make the dog run work, if possible, while keeping the off-leash hours. If this is, as Parks has told us and also the person who wrote above (or at our SunsetBark message board) that it is up to the community, then please let's try to get both so all our dogs can be accommodated.

Your support would be really appreciated. I think that's what I've been trying to say, and I must admit that this conversation has helped me figure out the best way to say it. And I now officially promise to stop repeating the same thing over and over.

Thanks for your patience and help.

Nina