Dogs on baseball fields at memorial park

I was driving this morning by the baseball fields in memorial park. There were at least 15-20 dogs off leashes running around the infield. One dog starts doing his business on the infield grass. I stop to watch and the owner does pick it up. Not the point you do not get all of it. Our kids are playing and rolling around this grass. What is wrong with people go to the dog park or at least don't let them do there business on the fields. They should be ticketed for dogs off leashes. I do have animals and grew up with dogs and I do love animals. This just annoyed me I guess because baseball is starting and it is so inconsiderate.

There are many special dog owners in Maplewood. We are blessed when they let their dogs poop on our front lawns, on our ballfields. They are animal lovers, don't you know. It's the least you can do to not complain while they better all of our lives by giving us the opportunity to share in some of the lifestyle decisions they've made.

Didnt'ja know? Our little "Puddles" is a snowflake puppee.

Off leash dogs in Maplewood's parks is on going problem. Dog owners disregard the law and enforcement is non existent.

I'm not even sure who would enforce this now that animal control has been outsourced. By the time a designated animal control agent arrived, the 20 off-leash dogs would be long gone.

My present "pet" peeve is the older gentleman who walks his dog off leash by my house each morning. The older gentleman doesn't even carry a leash with him. I live by a busy street and worry that this "well behaved" dog will run into the street one day and get hit by a passing car. Leash laws are as much about protecting dogs as they are about protecting humans.

wouldn't the police just be able to issue a summons? I had a 'friend' in another town who is completely inconsiderate of others and thinks dogs should have free reign...including trespassing on private property. One day her dog (off leash as usual) bit another dog, the other owner went to the court and signed the complaint and my 'friend' was fined...and it wasn't the 1st time her dog had bitten another dog..last time she had to pay the other dogs vet bills..and she gets all pissy at the other dog owners.....more recently her dog ran up  to another dog growling and she took her time retrieving her.

how about taking pics and start a threat to post them?

Unfortunately, off leash dog reports are a very low priority for our police officers. By the time they are able to respond, the dogs are long gone. We need someone who can issue violations on staggered days/times at places where dogs are known to run off leash.

My perception is that there are many more dogs now than when I first moved to this area. More dogs equal more people taking liberties not cleaning up etc.

I once called the police non-emergency number about dogs off-leash at Maplecrest park in the middle of the day. The desk officer who answered the phone seemed annoyed that I even called in about it (even though the park is adjacent to the police station, and they seemed to have tried having more police presence in Maplecrest park 6 months earlier -- but that effort appears to have tapered off).

I indicated that the three medium-to-large dogs were tearing around the playground area while kids were playing, and only then did there seem to be any interest in sending an officer over. (The officer arrived 3 minutes later, and told the walker that the dogs needed to be put back on their leashes).

ETA: It seems like many walkers at Maplecrest think it's OK to have their dogs offleash, and play 'fetch' with balls and sticks in the wooded areas by the bike paths (with the dogs running across the bike paths as kids are biking by). I've asked some to leash their dogs when I see them near where my kids are playing in the park, only to watch them unleash the dogs again when they are 20 feet away.

but since it is such a problem, that should be part of the regular patrol to do spot checks for dogs off leash..police can in fact due that at staggered times..or just whenever there is a lull in more urgent calls.

it's been a problem as long as I can remember. Many years ago, (close to 20) I was walking in Memorial Park with my very young children and a middle aged guy had a husky off leash. I was horrified when the dog ran after a duck and ate its head off as we were sitting there. I had seen him with the dog plenty of times after that (moved to SO over 10 years ago so not since.). I did call the police when I got home. (This was before we carried cell phones everywhere!)

MPD officers patrol in vehicles, not on foot. I doubt current staffing levels and need for quick response time would allow for foot patrols in the parks at staggered times or otherwise. During lulls, they seem to park in locations that provide for quick access to most of town so they can respond to calls as needed.

jmitw said:

but since it is such a problem, that should be part of the regular patrol to do spot checks for dogs off leash..police can in fact due that at staggered times..or just whenever there is a lull in more urgent calls.

There are police monitored cameras in Memorial Park. I'm quite sure they are aware of what is going on. Maybe they don't feel that the dog problem is a priority.

WTF???

shh said:

it's been a problem as long as I can remember. Many years ago, (close to 20) I was walking in Memorial Park with my very young children and a middle aged guy had a husky off leash. I was horrified when the dog ran after a duck and ate its head off as we were sitting there. I had seen him with the dog plenty of times after that (moved to SO over 10 years ago so not since.). I did call the police when I got home. (This was before we carried cell phones everywhere!).

Recently I was at a political meet and greet for a group running in S.O. and I was able to chat up Sheena Collum about the S.O. dog issue and those refusing to clean up after their dogs. The combo of being off leash and not cleaning up more than disgusts me. I'm a dog person but I don't assume others are. No one wants to see a dog of any size running towards them off leash. And no one wants to step in poo. I don't know why our neighbors feel not cleaning up and/or allowing their dogs off leash is cool to do -- it is not. About 2 years ago, I encountered a man walking his mid size dog off leash. Of course, when the dog saw my two, it became agitated and began to run towards us. I screamed at him to get his effin dog or I'd let my leashes go. He ran and grabbed his dog by the scruff and dragged it into the house. WTF? Was that the off leash experience he hoped for?

There has to be a way we can fix this building issue. I told Sheena that around Marshall School is horrible because owners do not clean up and the little ones drag poo into the school. There has to be a civil way to deal with those who think the streets, parks and fields of MW and SO are their own.

kibbegirl said:

I told Sheena that around Marshall School is horrible because owners do not clean up and the little ones drag poo into the school. There has to be a civil way to deal with those who think the streets, parks and fields of MW and SO are their own.

Not that we can afford to do this here, but I once read about a small town in England that had a huge dog poo issue, so they forced all dog owners to submit DNA samples of their dogs, and any piles of poo found were then tested and the dog owner fined. The problem stopped very quickly.

other towns have bike patrol and officers that get out and walk...maplewood needs to consider that...the park is part of town that needs to be patrolled properly....they need to find a way to staff it....during lulls in calls they should be driving around patrolling..not parked somewhere...maybe there can be an officer in a car that has bike access...and cameras on the problem area...dogs can kill, diseases can be spread-and even kill...expensive shoes can be damaged.

as far as DNA testing..make the dog owners pay for it..charge a fee for 1st time registration of a dog for the testing...and when you catch a dog, there needs to be a hefty fine...problem is with dogs from other towns that won't be in the data base..

Why move to a nice area and not care for the nice area? Dog feces left on berms or in the street is the equivalent of piles of litter and debris being left out. It's unsanitary and nasty to view.

I believe it's in the town charter that compliance with any regulation concerning pet dogs is completely optional.

People also let their dogs run and roam on the sledding hill by the train station. It's a regular meeting spot for many special dog owners. The cops could just sit there and hand out summons all day.

The TC likes to write new ordinances but is allergic to enforcement. One of their great weaknesses as a governing body.

Stoughton said:

I believe it's in the town charter that compliance with any regulation concerning pet dogs is completely optional.

Police resources ... bike patrols ... cameras ... DNA testing ... dogs that kill ... poo that kills

That escalated quickly.

We should use leaf blowers to scare them away ...

Now THAT'S an option... win/win.

Nothing stopping anyone now.

ETA: Well, maybe at this very minute ...

I got it...when people think they are so special that they don't have to properly control their dogs, the punishment should be to dress up as a big purple dinosaur (with face showing) and sing "you are special" all day at the park

Wait until our limited police assets are busy writing leaf blower tickets. This place will really go to the dogs...

DannyArcher said:

Wait until our limited police assets are busy writing leaf blower tickets. This place will really go to the dogs...

I'm afraid that I have about as much expectation that we will see leaf blower enforcement as off-leash dog enforcement.

Yup.

or parking enforcement or left-turn-into-parking-space, or one-way street enforcement in the village.

I hate to be one of those guys complaining about the change in attitudes over the years in Maplewood, but unfortunately it does seem like the sense of entitlement is worse than it was 15-20 years ago. I've stopped being surprised at the number of people who park in crosswalks, drive the wrong way into the Ricalton Square parking lot, turn left into parking spots. One day I pointed out to a guy that he was driving the wrong way at Ricalton, and I thought he was going to try to fight me. So no surprise we have entitled dog owners too.

there really needs to be enforcement of these laws. Why not put an auxiliary police officer on parking/traffic/dog regulation enforcement?

There are a couple of parking enforcement people in town but most of the time I see them sitting in their cars.

ml1 said:

or parking enforcement or left-turn-into-parking-space, or one-way street enforcement in the village.

I hate to be one of those guys complaining about the change in attitudes over the years in Maplewood, but unfortunately it does seem like the sense of entitlement is worse than it was 15-20 years ago. I've stopped being surprised at the number of people who park in crosswalks, drive the wrong way into the Ricalton Square parking lot, turn left into parking spots. One day I pointed out to a guy that he was driving the wrong way at Ricalton, and I thought he was going to try to fight me. So no surprise we have entitled dog owners too.

there really needs to be enforcement of these laws. Why not put an auxiliary police officer on parking/traffic/dog regulation enforcement?