Our former dog, Casey, bless his heart, was afraid of everything. The first hint of a thunderstorm, fireworks or any loud noises, and he'd try to leap the fence and run away.
Our one — and only — visit to a dog park was a disaster. Casey reacted to the institutional-looking chain-link fence as though he had been taken to the veterinarian or a kennel. As the other dogs frolicked, he shuddered and hid behind my legs.
I've thought a lot about that experience as I've learned that Salt Lake County officials are mulling a countywide off-leash dog park plan. They need to be the kinds of places that appeal to dogs. I'm fairly convinced that these parks will either need to be fee-based or there will need to be active enforcement of ordinances on picking up after one's dog. Otherwise, these places will soon go to the dogs.
There are responsible dog owners out there. If there were more, dogs would be welcome in more places. Dogs, after all, view the entire outdoors as their toilet. It's up to their people to guide them to places where they can take care of business — and their people will tidy up after the fact. The collisions in interests come when people don't attend to their doggie's doo and others end up scraping aforementioned doo off their soccer or softball cleats or tennis shoes.
This seems to be a larger problem in the spring. Once the snow melts, all that icky stuff that has been concealed for months comes to light. As people flock to the park in the warm weather, they encounter the remnants of the winter.
Seemingly, the best way to handle this is to designate places where people can recreate with their dogs. That means that dogs would be allowed to run off leash only in these places and that dog people will make a concerted effort not to turn other parks into unofficial dog parks.
This is a difficult issue because there is a wide array of people — and dogs — that use public spaces. Some people are incredibly responsible about cleaning up after their dogs. Some go so far as to clean up after other offending dogs. And some dogs are so well-trained that they present no nuisance to other dogs, people or wildlife.
But there are plenty who believe curbing their dog in a public place means they will have less cleanup to contend with at home. Or those people (and you know who you are) who figure since their dog soiled a public place, cleaning it is the government's problem. Some dogs are so poorly trained that they can be a menace to all they encounter. Just ask my editor, who was bitten by an off-leash dog while jogging in City Creek Canyon. The dog's owner had no control of the animal.
I've never understood the latter. First, I'm not convinced that dogs have to run off leash to obtain a sufficient amount of exercise. I see people walking or running with leashed dogs night and day in my neighborhood. That seems to work very well.
But if you believe a dog needs off-leash activity, then a dog needs the benefit of training. It will make him or her easier to live with, and I tend to think it makes them feel more secure when they know they have some boundaries. When you don't bother to train your dog, I wonder what kind of excuse you'll make when your dog does something menacing while off leash. It's not the dog's fault, it's a human failing.
As much as I'm an advocate of planning, I don't envy the people undertaking this planning process. These parks need to be designed for a specific purpose in mind. They need to be accessible to all, and they will require some amenities that will make the experience more enjoyable and, frankly, more hygienic.
Planners are masterful at balancing needs and wants within available resources. I have great confidence that the county will come up with some fantastic dog parks. If only I had equal confidence that humans will do their part to make sure these facilities work and that they will take responsibility when dogs do what they do.
Marjorie Cortez, whose dog Boomer might fancy a designated dog park, is a Deseret Morning News editorial writer. E-mail: marjorie@desnews.com.