Keeping dogs on a leash
It’s a rule urban dog owners break everyday: when there is no off-leash dog park nearby, they let their dogs roam free on any patch of public grass they can find, be it a park, a ravine, a beach or a school yard.
If no one else is around, this seems like a victimless crime. But often, someone is around: other dogs, other people and most critically, children.
Earlier this month while roaming a park located on a Toronto school, an unaccompanied dog bit a 14-year-old boy in the face. The boy was taken to hospital with injuries that required surgery. Fortunately, he will recover, but the disturbing incident is reflective of a widespread problem in Toronto and elsewhere.
According to the Star, data from Toronto Animal Services shows that complaints about off-leash dogs have been steady since 2014 at around 500 a year. However, complaints about dogs biting people have doubled since 2014, “spiking at 1,316 in 2022.”
Between 2019 and 2022, the City of Ottawa saw calls relating to aggressive dog behaviour jump more than 16 per cent.
It’s possible that this spike is at least partially attributable to a pandemic-era pet buying frenzy. Dog adoptions and sales soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, but some owners weren’t prepared for the onus of ownership. According to dog trainers, many dogs adopted or purchased during the pandemic were not properly socialized; others are suffering extreme separation anxiety, the result of being perpetually at home, attached to their owners throughout the pandemic.
There is also the issue of green space, or rather, a lack of it. It’s understandable that dog owners who live in densely populated urban areas are tempted to let their dogs off leash when they come upon a rare patch of grass. The lack of public green space is a legitimate problem in Toronto, and specifically in the St. Clair West Village neighbourhood where the dog attack occurred.
According to the Star, the Toronto District School Board has a “limited ability” to fund the security required to keep dog owners in check on school property.
This puts schools and the families that use them in a terrible position whereby the local schoolyard is the unofficial dog park of the neighbourhood. This is dangerous for both the health of school grounds and the safety of the people who frequent them. And it puts parents in the position of serving as park warden to tell dog owners to put their animals on a leash.
This frames the challenge for municipal politicians and bureaucrats to help curb these potentially dangerous incidents, whether that is building more off-leash dog parks or finding a way to enforce city rules on school property.
It does underscore the importance of green space in dense, urban areas and the need to increase these parks to serve a variety of uses, including dog walking.
More urgently in the interim, frustrated dog owners must not use a lack of green space as an excuse to put young people at risk. Public space is for everyone. But playgrounds and school properties are for children first and foremost.
Residents who can’t find child-free green zones in which to let their dogs run off leash should do the responsible thing and keep their dogs on the leash. Every owner thinks their dog doesn’t bite until it does.
Though some dog owners may not like to hear it, the needs and safety of children come before the needs of pets. More green space in Toronto and beyond is needed, yes. But until it arrives and even if it never does, owners must leash their dogs where kids play.
Residents who can’t find child-free green zones in which to let their dogs run off leash should do the responsible thing and keep their dogs on the leash. Every owner their dog thinks doesn’t bite until it does