`Dog park dead zone': Pooches need more play space
To get to an off-leash area at which her dog Atarau may legally run around and socialize with other pups is a half-hour, one-way walk for Adamina Carden.
That's a 30-minute trek in any direction from her basement suite near Fraser Street and Broadway in East Vancouver.
“The closest to me is Kingsway and King Ed,” Carden said, referencing Kingcrest Park. That's if she goes south.
If she heads east, Trout Lake is the closest space for Atarau to run loose. Olympic Village to the west, Strathcona to the north, all are roughly 30 minutes to get to on foot.
So, believing off-leash bylaws in Vancouver are too strict, Carden has started a petition seeking to loosen them and to add more offleash spaces, such as sports fields in winter and school yards after students go home.
She doesn't own a vehicle, and if she heads out with Atarau on her bike, her rescued collie-shepherd mix either has to run alongside unleashed (against one bylaw) or Carden has to cycle next to her leashed dog on the sidewalk (against another bylaw).
“Anyone living in Mount Pleasant east, it's a dead zone for dog parks,” she said.
It's not just physical exercise dogs need, they need mental and emotional stimulation, as well.
One Vancouver veterinarian said she usually recommends a minimum of 30 to 60 minutes of walking your dog ever day, but noted there is a lot of variability depending on age, breed, fitness, health and other factors.
“Some dogs need significantly more than that minimum guideline,” said Karen van Haaften.
It also depends on how much enrichment pets are getting inside and outside of the home, and it's important to remember walks are about more than tiring out your dog physically, she said. It's just as important to give your dog opportunities to use their senses, especially smell, and to allow them to explore, socialize and so on.
“Off-leash spaces offer dogs more choices and freedom to explore and socialize with other dogs than can be achieved with on-leash exercise.”
Dog trainer Drew Warner says what he has noticed is the average pet owner understands that their dog needs exercise.
“But when they bring their dog to me and can't figure out why they're getting all these nuisance behaviours, it's because they neglect the mental exercise portion of their dog's daily routine,” Warner said.
“Dogs need mental stimulation. We forget, dogs like to have jobs. If they weren't with us, they'd be doing stuff together as a pack, like hunting,” he said. “We provide food, free delivery, DoorDash right to their beds, they don't even have to work for it. That's unnatural for a dog.”
Carden has been issued one ticket for having Atarau unleashed, although she's unsure whether the city plans to pursue it.
“We just want space for our dogs within a reasonable distance of where we live, or just to be left alone while we're using the nearby fields that are available to us,” Carden said.