Off leash dog parks. Who wants them?

Dogs at the Richmond Beach Saltwater Park off-leash area
Photo by Nic Cross

By Pam Cross

Off leash dog parks. Who wants them?

You probably think the dogs want them. You might be wrong. What is wrong with them?

Ask a dog: do you like off leash parks?

• Reply: Off leash parks are boring.

Granted, not every dog park can compete with Marymoor off-leash park (aka Disneyland for Dogs).

• Reply: But most off leash parks are boring.

A lot of them are advertised as having views.

• Reply: What’s a view? And there is nothing to dooo (whining). Nothing to sniff at. No trails to follow. Chase a ball? I don’t chase balls. And if I did, a bunch of other dogs would run after *my* ball and take it away.What happens anyway? You get the ball, bring it back, and they throw it again! In the same place.

So mostly I gang up with other dogs my size and pick on the new guys. Scare the timid dogs. Terrify the smaller dogs. Scrum City!

And my owner/best friend who brought me here? They are leaning against the fence looking at their phone. They didn’t even see me bring down that spotted dog that I didn’t like.

Ask a dog owner

Designing an off leash park doesn’t require adding special agility equipment. Most owners and dogs don’t know how to use it correctly and it largely just sits there unused. 

What even the smallest off leash park needs is a trail - even if it’s just gravel along the fence, where owners can walk with their dog while the dog runs a short distance away to sniff a bush or a large rock or a tree stump, and then comes back to tell its owner about it. 

Small bushes planted in groups in the park will break the line of sight between dogs. They provide a visual barrier to prevent confrontation as well as something of interest for the dogs to explore. Maybe there’s a discarded treat hidden in there. Or a squirrel!

If you look where people take their dogs to play, dogs who chase balls need to go to a plain park with few trees and bushes so they have room to run. The smaller and timid dogs tend to meander and are more interested in looking at different objects. They look at the other dogs to see if they recognize anybody.

Shoreline is buying property throughout the city for the future development of parks. This undeveloped land could easily be converted to temporary off-leash parks with the addition of fencing and a trash can for the doggy bags. 

The dogs will develop the trails as they walk around, and their owners will assist in keeping the foliage down while they walk with their dogs. The city can post a sign that states “This land is for the future development of a park.” 

And in 10 years when funding is available to develop the park, the off-leash use will be discontinued.