These are things people should think about before they get a dog. If you cannot exercise it sufficiently unless the government builds a place for you, you should move or find a more suitable home for your pet.

If you get in your car and drive 30 minutes from Chevy Chase, you can find suitable space.

Personally, I think no one has to have a dog park. You can give any dog enough exercise and play without it, but it is inconvenient.

I know this area. Early most mornings, there is a large group that convenes at a particular park and let their dogs off leash. It sounds like a good compromise. But the dog owners dont pick up after the dogs enough, so little kids wind up covered in poop. The poop situation was such that my boot camp stopped using the field. But the neighbors complain of the noise, so the cops respond and hand out tickets for leash violations.

Dog owners ruin anything you give them access to. It only takes a couple of bad ones to ruin it for everyone.

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Dog owners ruin anything you give them access to...

That's a pretty strong statement there ...

But I do see an awful lot of dog owners who simply don't think that regulations that crimp their style need to be followed. In my Santa Fe home, we like to hike on privately maintained trails that have plain signage prohibiting unleashed dogs. I have met many unleashed dogs with no owner in sight. Fortunately, none have so far decided that my leg is tasty.

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Originally posted by Nina:

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Originally posted by QuirtEvans:

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Originally posted by Steve Miller:

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Originally posted by QuirtEvans:

All of which is to say, dog owners care about leash-free space. A LOT.

Yeah, but they never should have put a dog park close to residences like that. It's just poor planning.

I don't know exactly where that dog park is, but I'd be surprised if there's a lot of open land in Chevy Chase. Which is to say, if you're going to have a dog park, someone will be impacted. But maybe I'm wrong, and maybe there's available land.

And that's relevant... how? People have a right to enjoy their home in relative peace and quiet. The fact that there wasn't a good place to put an off-leash dog park doesn't mean the right decision is to put it in a bad place.

What do you think about people who feel they have a right to keep a "guard dog" outside in a residential neighborhood 24/7, with no intention of quieting it down, because they don't feel safe in the neighborhood. Is that a good reason to let the dog bark? What about a dog that "needs his freedom" and can't stay indoors? What about a dog that hasn't been house trained? There are always reasons why it's easier or more comfortable for someone to assert their rights as primary, but in my experience most of those people are just basically inconsiderate.

And if you really want to strike up a neighborhood war, start talking about banning outdoor cats....

As you probably can surmise, I'm a big animal lover. But don't get me started on outdoor cats and barking dogs and people who don't pick up after their dogs....

So am I, but I grew up with well-trained dogs. Our dogs were/are members of the family. We would no more leave them outside all day to bark than we would leave a child out there chained to a tree. For that matter, we would also never have an untrained dog. I truly believe that a trained dog, who knows their role in the pack and their job(s), is a happy dog. A well-trained dog adds so much to their owner's happiness as well.

I know what training can accomplish, with almost any dog. But yes, it does take time and dedication, which seems to be off the table for some dog owners.

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Originally posted by Nina:

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Originally posted by QuirtEvans:

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Originally posted by Steve Miller:

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Originally posted by QuirtEvans:

All of which is to say, dog owners care about leash-free space. A LOT.

Yeah, but they never should have put a dog park close to residences like that. It's just poor planning.

I don't know exactly where that dog park is, but I'd be surprised if there's a lot of open land in Chevy Chase. Which is to say, if you're going to have a dog park, someone will be impacted. But maybe I'm wrong, and maybe there's available land.

And that's relevant... how? People have a right to enjoy their home in relative peace and quiet. The fact that there wasn't a good place to put an off-leash dog park doesn't mean the right decision is to put it in a bad place.

What do you think about people who feel they have a right to keep a "guard dog" outside in a residential neighborhood 24/7, with no intention of quieting it down, because they don't feel safe in the neighborhood. Is that a good reason to let the dog bark? What about a dog that "needs his freedom" and can't stay indoors? What about a dog that hasn't been house trained? There are always reasons why it's easier or more comfortable for someone to assert their rights as primary, but in my experience most of those people are just basically inconsiderate.

And if you really want to strike up a neighborhood war, start talking about banning outdoor cats....

It’s relevant because they vote. Democracy and all.

It’s not a problem to restrict it to certain hours ... if you have the votes.

Dog owners who don’t clean up after their dogs on public property, or someone else's property, drive me nuts. If I go anywhere with a dog, there is ALWAYS a plastic bag in my pocket.

Pave it over and put in a barking lot.

Love dogs.

Cannot stand the average selfish, stupid, inconsiderate, clueless dog owner.

I agree with Cindy except for the part about dogs not needing exercise off leash. Many dogs do need off leash play, especially if they aren't owned by marathon runners. But in a community this wealthy, don't the houses have big fenced back yards?

Ouch.

M

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Originally posted by piqué:
Love dogs.

Cannot stand the average selfish, stupid, inconsiderate, clueless dog owner.

The city used taxpayer funds to build a dog park. Citizens are using it as intended. It’s not surprising that the dogs bark.

Why the hate on dog owners?

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Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Pave it over and put in a barking lot.

We have two dogs that love to bark, and a VERY large backyard. Across the fence on one side, there are two large foxhounds that also like to bark. Across the fence on another side, there's a yappy little dog. And, across the street, there's a dog that barks every time I walk in my yard. So I know from barking.

I am very careful not to leave my dogs outside at night or early in the morning if there's going to be any barking. During the day, people can put up with barking. And I have to put up with lawn mowers and construction and all other manner of noise during the day.

Noise is an issue, but it's been an issue everywhere I've ever lived. Heck, when I lived in Massachusetts, they built an entire new house next door on an empty lot. If you think barking is loud, try dealing with construction workers every morning at 6:30 AM.

But that's why there are noise ordinances. And, typically, noise ordinances allow a lot more noise starting at some point in the early morning until sometime in the evening. Barking fits that category.

And there are ways to cope. As one example, one of my friends snores loudly enough to rattle the walls. His wife sleeps in headphones.

Do I enjoy it when my neighbor's lawn mower wakes me up at 7AM? I do not. Do I enjoy the two solid weeks of backyard fireworks around July 4th that seems to be an Oklahoma tradition? I do not. Is it part of living in society? It is. And so is the barking of dogs.

Imagine how the people who live near an outdoor concert venue like Wolftrap feel. I wonder whether they find the noise or the traffic more disruptive.

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in a community this wealthy, don't the houses have big fenced back yards?

In most of the expensive developments are here, the lots are all super small, with not much of a front or backyard for each house (yet the houses are very expensive and upscale relative to this real estate market).

When we were house-hunting, before we had any idea how expensive those houses were, we drove through one of those developments. Mr. SK immediately said "we wouldn't have room for a dog" and I immediately thought "and we'd have to put up with everyone else's dogs, because of the high rate of pet-ownership these days."

I guess they like the small lots because there's zero lawn care?? And they want to be able to hear their neighbor's TVs??

It's the McMansion phenomenon, SK. I remember upscale communities where that started in the 1980s.

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McMansion phenomenon

I guess, except I always imagine McMansions on huge plots of land. I guess this is McMansion living in-town and within walking distance of downtown, that kind of thing.

Some of the houses are quite nice, not over-done McMansions in terms of the houses themselves. But they are literally right on top of each other. I wonder what their dog-rules are. I also wonder if they have breed-specific policies...

/threaddrift