To be published in this week's Westmount Independent.
Opinion
Dogs are animals, without any of the social morays that restrict humans from acting on their first impulses. Our own dog is a gentle giant. He wants to be patted by all passersby and he wants to sniff all dogs. He will pull to get close to other dogs and if the other owner appears willing, we let them meet. This is almost always a friendly encounter. There is, however, a 1% chance that for whatever reason He hates the other dog and an out of character reaction occurs. This is common among canines and is easily managed as the reaction is apparent from a hundred feet away and the leashed animals are kept well away from each other. If this reaction happens at a dog run the animals are probably much closer to each other, the second dog has yet to enter, and the approaching dog is led away by their owner. The other dog is theoretically confined by the fence.
On April 6 at Lansdowne dog run a large dog took offence to a smaller dog being walked on the path just outside. Barking started and the large dog ran to the fence easily putting front paws on the top of the fence. Both owners reacted immediately. The inside owner ran towards his dog and the outside owner turned around and left at speed. Perhaps this triggered a chase response I don’t know, but the large dog jumped the fence and raced after the smaller dog to attack, knocking down the smaller dog’s owner in the process. I was inside the dog run close the where the two dogs were engaged. I stepped over the fence and pulled the large dog off of the smaller one within seconds of the first contact. The large dog owner arrived immediately after to take charge of his animal. If I had hesitated to consider the possible outcomes for me I might not have done it but I sustained no injury. Our dog watched from the sidelines. The large dog received a gash between the eyes and I don’t know if the smaller dog was injured physically ( I don’t remember seeing blood) but he was scared, slipped out of his collar and ran away. Both owners and others who were at the dog run went searching for the dog. Westmount Public Security was alerted and officers joined the search . I contacted Public Security the next day to see if it had been found but they had no information.
The incident would not have happened two days before because of the 4 foot snow fence. The large dog would not have been able to put paws on top of the fence and a rickety fence is much more daunting for an animal to contemplate jumping than a solid one of the same size. While the snow fence would have prevented all this trauma, it is not the answer. Dogs jump out of the dog runs all the time for a variety of reasons, the hated squirrels is our dog’s prime motivation. If a dog wants out and the fence is only 27 and 1/8 inches high in some places, a motivated teacup Chihuahua could jump the fence at Lansdowne. I stepped over it with ease.
The issue of the low fences was brought to Westmount City Council more than four years ago and repeatedly since then. The April 6th incident further illustrates how important it is to have proper fences around all dog runs, and how the Council has let these dogs down. Instead of fixing the problem, Council members have repeatedly minimised, obfuscated or ignored the issue. Does a dog owner have to be killed trying to retrieve their dog from Lansdowne or St. Catherine St. before council will act. (The death of a dog would probably not be enough.) It took a death on Strathcona to make council act on truck safety. Council has plenty of time to work on the arena project for the 910 hockey players (2009) at a cost of more than $40000 per player. I think you will find that dog owners outnumber hockey players by a considerable margin. It would take less tan 5 players worth to secure the dog runs with tasteful PAC compliant fencing. You could even afford wireless security cameras to allay any concerns about undesirables hiding behind a 6 foot fence. Council, do your duty to serve and protect .
Sincerely,
Ed Vickery, Argyle Ave.
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