Comments on: Tough To Enforce Leash Laws

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:59:50 +0000

How about “Leash thy dog” when it’s required by law. It’s gotten so that my son doesn’t want to walk with me down to the village via the Shepard Canyon trail for fear of being harassed by unleashed dogs. We haven’t had a problem with vicious animals, but just off-leash dogs that approach, jump on or otherwise greet with enthusiasm anyone they encounter. For children who are at eye level with some of these bigger dogs, or anyone who’s uncomfortable with dogs, this is frightening, and can lead to panicked reactions that can escalate the problem.

It’s all so easily avoidable. We can live with sanctioned off-leash areas by choosing not to go there. We can also co-exist with dogs if their owners abide by the rules. The argument that one’s dog is well behaved and responds to verbal commands and is therefore OK to be off-leash in areas covered by leash laws doesn’t fly. What’s the standard for good behavior? It seems to be up to the individual dog owner as to what is or isn’t appropriate behavior. A leash makes it simple.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:58:10 +0000

As a responsible dog owner, I am very angry at those who refuse to leash when appropriate.

My dog and I enjoy lots of time off leash–but we are in permitted areas of Sibley, Redwood, Pt. Pinole, Tilden, and Pt. Isabel regional parks and the local Piedmont city parks (where Oakland residents have to pay for a permit).

There is no excuse for having your dog off-leash where it is not permitted.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:29:03 +0000

Huckleberry does not allow dogs!

From MontclairOak: Thanks for the correction, Heidi. Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen any there. I just went to the EB Parks site and confirmed “no dogs allowed.”

By: JT

JT — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:51:31 +0000

Nice entry. As a responsible dog owner, I place tremendous value on the unleashed dog areas Oakland has to offer. Sadly, I would say there are a lot of irresponsible dog owners though.

By: Mike Spencer

Mike Spencer — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:33:45 +0000

Know thy dog. Classic case of 1 to 5-percent of bad apple dog owners giving the rest of us a bad name. Common sense goes a long way. In populated areas, especially busy trails, you have to have tighter control of your dog. I have had a dog for three years and can’t think of more than one or two occasions where I saw dog owners just negligent. Oakland has much more pressing problems than the need to set loose the leash police.