This letter is in response to Barrie Barton’s letter (“Lacombe Lake Park belongs to owners and their dogs,” St. Albert Gazette, June 18).
I absolutely agree that dog owners should be subjected to more rigorous licensing and enforcement, but that’s where the agreement stops. I’m not anti-dog or anti-off-leash; I am a dog owner who lives right next to the park and I don’t agree that the area should be maintained exclusively as an off-leash area.
Despite Barton’s anecdotal evidence of irresponsible parents not watching their children, I am vigilant, bordering on paranoid when I walk with my kids. I have no complaints about human conduct because no biker or rollerblader has ever frightened or nearly knocked down my child. I have a two-and-a-half-year-old and a 10-month-old and I live right by the park, so the suggestion of finding another place to walk and play is not fair. I just paid over $4,000 in property taxes to live where I live and I want to be able to take my children to the park by my house to play without worrying about them being trampled or knocked over by an excited, well meaning pup who is three times their size and whose owner is 50 feet away.
I have a small dog as well that I normally just leave at home because even though I stay on the paths when I walk him, it is pretty much impossible to deal with both him and my two-year-old when we are approached by a large dog who is oblivious to the fact that the paths and one-metre on either side are designated as on-leash areas.
We moved here because this is such a beautiful area and I want to be able to enjoy it fully with my family. There is a simple, low-tech solution to this simple problem that would honour the rights of those who wish for an off-leash area and those who want to enjoy the area with children or on-leash dogs — a fence.
Holly Jones, St. Albert
