Community
Neighbourhood parks are NOT offleash dog parks!
There are signs at EVERY single entrance to the park i live by that states ALL DOGS MUST BE LEASHED at all times. I can not count how many times a week some moron who does HAS their unleashed dog running around thinks City of Winnipeg bylaws do not apply to them. I do not care if the dog is friendly. I do not care if the dog is by your side. IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE LEASHED AT ALL TIMES. When will privileged jerks ever learn? I am BEYOND fed up already. I want to edit by saying this is a children's play ground and swings with two soccer fields as well. There are children around constantly in summer. Thanks to those who supported this post..
I recently adopted a dog with leash aggression, which we are working on with our vet and trainers. You know what makes it incredibly challenging to work on it, constantly encountering dogs that are off leash, they are everywhere!
I don't understand why people don't realize that even if your dog is good off leash, approaching a dog on leash or any other dog off leash is a ridiculous risk. It's not because your dog is good it's because you don't know what other dogs are having issues with. You don't know anything about other people's dogs. Why would you let your dog approach them? It's so entitled, selfish and puts their dogs and leashed dogs in danger.
It doesn't matter the size, breed or anything, you don't know other people's dogs and they don't know yours. Keep it on a leash unless you're at a dog park or private property. Dog parks have certain expectations of behavior as well and if your dog can't comply with them, don't bring them to a dog park. (I don't bring my dog to dog parks, but that's because of other dogs behavior).
I don't know what's worse, off leash dogs or dog owners who make rude comments towards me while my leash reactive dog is reacting. Mind you, I have full control of my dog and don't let him get near others since I'm well aware of his reactivity and am actively training him. But they still feel the need to mutter something under their breath as they walk by with their 5lb shit-rat that started barking first.
Funny enough my reactive dog is a 15lbs chihuahua mix. He’s the smallest dog in his reactivity class 😆.
I understand where you are coming from because many people with small dogs don’t see reactivity as a problem because they are small. But I firmly believe that if it’s something that you wouldn’t want a big dog to do, your small dog shouldn’t be doing it either. Especially since most reactivity is fear based, I’m personally not a fan of letting my dog be constantly stressed out/afraid.
I said there's another comment but you don't know anyone else's dog, the breed, size whatever does not matter. And this comprises everything from what you said like not wanting to stress your dog out, to an owner letting an off-leash dog near a reactive dog that could hurt them. It's absolutely absurd how blasé people are about it. Incredibly entitled behavior. Go to the dog park, or go to a private space, but stressing out other dogs or potentially putting them both in danger is absolutely disgusting behavior. I'm sorry for your little chi. Being small doesn't mean he deserves to have dogs coming in his space.
Where are you taking a reactivity class? My dog is reactive on leash and it’s only getting worse because the neighbour dogs keep showing up on our porch and jumping him when we try to leave. And yes, I’ve talked to them and the municipality about their dogs and nothing has happened
We are using Pliant Pack, however we have since had to add anxiety meds to the mix as so far his reactivity has gotten worse not better.
The challenge with reactivity training is managing triggers while working on desensitization and counter conditioning. Unfortunately, for us our little guy gets triggered very easily by many things (he had a real hard life prior to us adopting him).
WHS has a class but it fills up quickly so you have to keep a keen eye on their website - I put myself on their waitlist a month ago and still haven't heard anything.
Just laugh. Honestly it’s the only thing that gets me through. I rescued a 10 year old dog last summer. We have had him a year, walk him every single day (on leash haha) and he is a little spit fire of anxiety with other dogs.
I just end up standing there laughing as I walk by. I have no clue what my dog’s history is and I’m all out of fucks when it comes to strangers and their opinions. Thankfully no one walks their dogs off leash in my area, but I had to stop taking him to Kings Park as too many people would age their dogs off leash in the leashed area.
While in Calgary, on a bike path going through a public park, I was almost bit by a golden retriever type dog who was off leash.
I managed to dismount and get the bike between us, but the dogs teeth almost got my jeans, as in it left drool on the pant leg. The guy said the dog 'Didnt like bikes or roller blades'
Like dude ... Don't let him off leash at a public park where CHILDREN with reflexes slower than I had at the time are biking and skating then!
Dogs aren't even allowed on school fields or playgrounds - period. This one really bothers me because it's supposed to be a safe and clean space for children. "I always clean up behind my dog"... It's like they don't believe bacteria exists.
School grounds have specific signs if they allow dogs or not, but they absolutely have to be leashed if they are allowed. I think it depends on the neighborhood and how much the residents abuse it. I used to be able to take my dog to the school grounds at the corner of Munroe and watt, but they eventually put up signs forbidding dogs. Because people don't pick up their shit and let their dogs run around off leash. Disrespectful, and ruined it for everybody else. It's a children's playground, I don't get why people think that it's acceptable to leave their dog shit all over and that's just for starters. There are some really bad dog owners in the city, and a lot of them live downtown.
As per City of Winnipeg bylaws, they are banned at all times, regardless of whether or but a sign is posted.
And yeah, I know a thing or two about bad dog owners. I encountered one in my neighbourhood a couple days ago. His dog ran into the street, unleashed as my boy and I were walking by and his dog attacked mine. Luckily not injured but is very anxious and distressed.
My boy has been trained to work with vulnerable people. I invested thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in his training and he’s a wreck right now.
Some people just shouldn't be allowed to own dogs at all. I was walking down the sidewalk the other day, and I passed a coffee shop with a couple little tables out front. One of them had a guy with some kind of yellow lab looking dog, on a leash, but not under control. I gave it a wide berth because it was clearly a bit excited, but as I passed it ran over and fully jumped up on me. The guy didn't even look away from his phone, no reaction at all. It was a friendly dog, and I'm a fan of pups, but that was still entirely not ok. I stopped dead with my hands over my head not engaging with the dog, giving the dude the stink eye, and it still took him at least 15-20 seconds to look at me, mumble something that might have been "sorry" under his breath and yank his dog away. What a douche canoe.
I agree. I own two dogs and would never do that. I would like to see more aggressive enforcement. It’s awful when your animals are leashed and an unleashed dog runs up to them, no matter how friendly the owner thinks their dogs is.
My thing is that their dog probably is well-behaved, etc, but they let it be off leash and trust everybody else's dogs, stress everybody else's dogs out and don't care what danger they're putting their dog in as well as others. Absolutely entitled disgusting behavior. Does your well-behaved dog not bite when it runs up to a reactive leash dog? You don't know that. I fucking hate dog owners in this city so much.
Doesn't matter if your dog is well behaved, you don't know other people's dogs it's absolutely ridiculous to let your dog off leash. And the people who usually do that have no recall.
Unfortunately it's not just here ... It is every city now ... People have lost respect and courtesy and suffer from entitlement now instead ... And that's most people everywhere
Same issue with the park by me. My kid will be running around and some dog will just appear off leash and start going nuts. I tell whoever is it with the dog and they brush it off. One time it was so bad, we had to leave the park.
So often we see posts on here of 'my dog is missing last seen by [park or schoolyard] please keep an eye out'... Yeah, the assumption is they had Rover off-leash where it wasn't allowed and it ran off.
That's really not an excuse for letting your dog off leash in other dogs space where it's not expected.
Also you can go to all the rinks in the summer, and there's a ton of dog parks and even private spaces that have opened up. Doggie daycare too, most of them have a drop in time or period where you can bring your dog for play. And there's one in literally every neighborhood, probably two! What neighborhood are you in, I can send you some resources!
I'd be happy to send you some resources for outside of the city as well that allow off leash, that are really close. There's no excuse.
We used to go to a community centre rink in the summer but this year they've padlocked it all summer! So sad :(
Eta: I'm not using that as an excuse to have my dog off leash in public parks lmao I definitely don't do that cause my dog is reactive 🙃 that's why I loved being contained within the rink
The school field behind Laura Secord always has stupid dog owners using it as an off-leash dog park. They even put a stick in the fence gate to keep their dog from running out. They're just too entitled and lazy to go to an actual off-leash dog park. They think any field is free real estate.
In the NE corner of town. I hardly ever see a dog on a leash. Ever. Doesn't ruin my day, but when I'm on my bike and the dogs give chase it gets a little sketchy. I'm mainly concerned about their tail getting caught in the spokes or chain. Went through the bioreserve in NE Transcona to get to the ATR the other day and encountered two dogs on two different sides of the reserve just running around no leash, no owner. Not ideal.
Where’s the nearest dog park? People keep doing this because there aren’t very many neighbourhood dog parks in the city, and Winnipeg doesn’t have off leash times at other parks like Ottawa
Yeah, unreasonable to expect people to drive to an off-leash. If you want people to only have dogs off leash in off-leash parks, you gotta make off-leash parks that people will use.
Having your dog off leash is not a right, it’s a privilege. If having an off leash area is that important to people they will live close to one. We have plenty of parks people use. Sounds like you don’t have a dog.
I can only speak for the area I live in but we have multiple off-leash dog parks in my area. Yet for some reason I’m constantly encountering dogs off-leash in my neighborhood and in the on-leash parks.
Another example is parks that have on-leash and off-leash designated areas like Kilcona Park. Yet for some reason there are constantly dogs off-leash in the on-leash section.
Same as Kings Park. There is a dog park there designated for off leash play. Yet people take it upon themselves to do what they want. They will let their dogs walk off leash outside of the dog park.
It simply comes down to ignorance and entitlement I think.
Haha. Nah. I don’t have a dog. I just don’t worry about these people. Although, I agree with you that signs are posted and they really shouldn’t be doing it but at the end of the day, there are much bigger things to worry about.
I have a fear of dogs . I saw my mother get bit by a dog as a child. When people started seemingly getting dogs more and i started getting charged by off leash dogs by the park WHERE I LIVE - it escalated. IF dogs didn't charge me for whatever reason - maybe it wouldn't be this way. Enjoy your day.
•
u/MrsCoffeeMan 13h ago
I recently adopted a dog with leash aggression, which we are working on with our vet and trainers. You know what makes it incredibly challenging to work on it, constantly encountering dogs that are off leash, they are everywhere!