Man Bites Dog It’s Not – The Eagle on Wednesday’s Dog Fight in Brooklyn Heights

I’m a huge animal lover, but feels like this is a reason for animals to be kept on leashes: more safety for both canines and humans. Not good for anyone to have Sophie tearing around the neighborhood petrified and aggressive.

I feel bad for all involved; clearly just a freakish situation, but perhaps could have been avoided.

@north heights resident:

I must take strong exception to your “feeling”. In 89 designated offleash areas and over 50 enclosed dog runs in all five boroughts tens of thousands of dogs and their owners each week recreate in a park enviornment with the fellow city residents.

This dog-on-dog incident represents a rare exception to the hundreds of thousands of daily dog-on-dog interactions in NYC. Compare that to the hundreds of human-on-human reports of assault and other forms of human aggression every day in NYC.

Dog runs and designated park off-leash areas have been with us in NYC for approximately 20 years. What’s happened during that time? A drastic reduction in the number of dog on people bites (over a 90% reduction). Don’t take my word for it. The NYC Health Board unanimously voted in 2006 to amend the leash law to codify the right for the NYC Parks Commissioner to designate off-leash areas in NYC Parks. The Health Board, which is comprised of 13 health professionals (doctors, epidemiologist, public health practioners) looked at the data over 20 years and unimously agreed that off-leash recreational opportunities have contributed to a better and healthier city for all residents (not just dog owners), and therefore amended the Health Code.

The result for people? Great friendships made, life partners introduced (I met my wife at Hillside), an outlet to properly excersise one’s dog (a tired dog is a good dog), a reason for citizens to go to a NYC park every day of the year in all weather, increasing the usage and safety of our parks for all, dog owners and non dog owners alike. A 90% reduction in the number of dog on human bites in NYC over the past few decades.

The result for dogs? Needed socialization, exercise, and a drastic reduction in aggression. I can’t tell you how many times people from the suburbs comment on how well behaved and socialized city dogs who attend dog runs and off-leash areas, compared to territorial suburban dogs who bark and show aggression toward anyone approaching their property and owners.

To extend your logic which extrapolates a single rare incident and seeks to generalize, what should we do after reading the BHB crime blotter each week where we see daily human on human assaults, muggings, and murder? Put humans on leashes? Close the parks to humans because they often do bad things to each other and sometimes even to animals, and in parks? .

So I hope these words, facts, and experience about the tremendous net good that off-leash areas and enclosed dog runs have done for all of the people of the City of New York, and also the canine residents (estimated at between 500k to 1.5mm) over the past few years help you re-examine your assertion about how this rare single incident makes you “feel.”

Submitted with respect.

Matthew Parker: I neither dispute nor disagree with anything that you say. I still don’t think that it’s a good idea for dogs to be off-leash in unfenced areas. Other people in/around the park at that time, who might have no interest in being near dogs, who may be afraid of them, are put at unnecessary risk – and I thought this long before this incident. I’m in full support of fenced dog runs; I don’t think that anyone else should have to be a part of whatever occasional canine skirmishes happen…and I don’t think that folks who are afraid of dogs should have to avoid parks during off-leash hours, especially when fenced-in dog parks are nearby.

And close to the top of the list of my concerns here is what could have happened to Sophie as she ran petrified around the neighborhood.

@North Heights Res:

Of course you’re entitled to your opinion.

My point is that the data, facts, and experience don’t bear out your feeling. But you’re still entitled to it.

I don’t like hardball baseball games or speeding bike riders in parks. They are dangerous and bystanders get injured. I was hit by a speeding cyclist in Prospect Park a few years ago.

However, I recognize that people use parks for all types of recreational activities, some of which I like, some I don’t like or participate in.

I don’t advocate for abolishing those activities. I simply avoid the ballfields during games, and try to avoid speeding cyclists (though that’s often hard to do and also navigate a park).

Off-leash hours in the 89 parks where it currently exists are subsections of a park. For instance in Cadman, the designated offleash area before 9am and after 9pm is at the very north end of the park. It’s not an unreasonable accomodation that if you don’t like off-leash dogs, to simply avoid that area before 9am and after 9pm, while your fellow citizens who utilize Cadman every day for offleash get to use a small portion of the park.

Regarding your comment about enclosed dog runs vs. offleash areas, dog runs are quite expensive, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to build and maintain. Most of the City doesn’t have dog runs, but off-leash areas are a way to maximize existing parkland for multi-use functions. It costs little to nothing to designate an area a 9-9 offleash area.

Though Hillside is convenient for residents of DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights, it’s a very long walk for Downtown, Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill residents, most of whom don’t have access to an enclosed run. Cadman is significantly closer to some of these areas, and has been providing this outlet for over a decade.

In fact, there’s such a need for more off-leash areas in the Downtown Brooklyn area that the MetroTech BID recently presented in front of CB2’s parks subcommittee as the process for site selection for a new off-leash area (or if funding can be found for an enclosed dog run) to be built to provide services for the thousands of new and existing Downtown residents who don’t have access and many of whom now go to Cadman.

Thank you Mr. Parker for putting facts first and opinions/feelings where they belong. Off-leash unfenced park areas for our pups are a necessity. Like humans not all dogs are created equal and some dogs fare much better in open unfenced areas. I am a proud owner of a beautiful pitt mix who has issues with the often frenetic energy of a fenced in dog park with dozens of dogs. The Hillside park is not an option for us as a result. Instead, we find our own space at Cadman Plaza and I’m able to give my pup the workout she needs and loves.

Also, I was there when the incident took place and can personally attest the account reported above is well documented. Luna and her owner handled the situation as best they could. The small dog bit off way more than it could chew and, as often is the case in small dog v big dog incidents, the small dog owner claimed they were the victim. Nice try but it is simply not the case by any stretch of the imagination.

I think the off-leash areas are very important for many reasons aside from the dog/owner benefits.

There is often no one else in the park during those early morning/late night hours. Trash and other debris is picked up, often we often leave the park cleaner than we found it.

It is also safer when there are people around during the hours when few, if any, eyes are out in these areas of the neighborhood.

I too appreciate the facts Matthew Parker states, and have experienced the positive effects of both fenced and unfenced off- leash dog areas. My dog and I frequent both Cadman Plaza off leash area and Hillside Dog Park daily. The overwhelming majority of the time,there are well balanced happy dogs playing, (and in my dog’s case), sunning, and enjoying themselves, while owners socialize and trade information about their dogs and local dog services. I strongly agree that there is a need for more of these “gems”- that are a great asset to dogs, their owners, and to the community at large,for lowering the amount of cannine aggression in our city. In Cadman I have never observed any non-dog owners inconveneinced in any way;they still run or walk the track and frequent all the other parts of the park. As a local Real Estate Broker, I always inform my clients with dogs about the off-leash areas and most often they choose to focus their housing searches to live near them.Let’s all keep a healthy perspective here; the off leash areas add to making our city a better place to live for dogs and humans alike.

The off leash area of Cadman has been a wonderful social opportunity for both my dog and myself. Yes, we utilize the dog parks throughout the day. But every morning both my dog and I look forward to 30 minutes at Cadman. Moving from the mid-west last winter, the opportunity for my dog to socialize off leash at the park did wonders to help him adjust to city life. It helped me as well. My first friends in NYC were made at Cadman. The owners who use the park in the mornings are diligent and respectful of others based on my experience. The dogs are well behaved and thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to run, chase balls and play. Most of the park use is between 7-9 am which is a small segment of the day to share the park with these dogs and their owners who not only watch their dogs but what is happening around them in the park. There are also numerous people who come and sit and watch the dogs play. This option to be off leash for a small period of time provides the opportunity for people with similar interests to utilize the park during a otherwise low usage time and become a community.

Get your kids away from me. Dont want them to be around me or anywhere I go. Drop them off at the playgrounds @ 6 AM and pick them up at 10 PM so I wont have to deal with them and all the yackinging stroller moms, dads and nannies.

My taxes pay for their schools. Give me back my money.

it all comes down to the owner and how they raise their dog. dogs aren’t born vicious. these people don’t know how to take care of their dogs and have them only because they are “cute”. it’s the human beings fault as always. if these yuppie stoller parents can’t handle their obnoxious rugrats ya think they will have a well behaved dog?

It is surprising how viscous you people are to each other. Many of you sound like a bunch of attack dogs and hissing cats, instead of concerned humans.

This was the kind of incident that easily have happened with dogs who were on leash. As someone who takes their dog to Cadman Plaza every morning, I can attest that both the dogs and people are wonderful– well behaved and respectful of everyone in the park. In fact there are very few people in that area before 9 am. The positive effects on my dog of being able to socialize with both people and other dogs every morning, as well as get a good workout, are tremendous. I don’t believe that this incident should be used as an reason for closing down off-lease times and areas, as the incident is esentially unrelated to that issue.

And none of that research addresses the fact that I, and many others, don’t want to be approached by dogs, friendly or otherwise, because their owners think that the social elements – for themselves and their dogs – outweigh the desires of nearby humans. More times than I can count, I’ve had to deal with dogs who want to come talk, play, whatever, and I don’t think that I should be subjected to that.

And even more so, those who fear dogs shouldn’t, especially as there’s a dog-specific area right nearby.

But I get it: if it makes you and the dogs happy, the rest of the community should just deal with it.

@North Heights Res:

As I stated in my previous post, not everyone is a “North Heights Res[ident]”. So if you’re referring to Hillside as the other off-leash area nearby, that’s not the case if you’re coming from Downtown, Boerum Hill or parts of Cobble Hill. It’s another 10 block walk r/t for those folks. That’s tough to do everyday when you’re trying to get some parktime in for off-leash recreation before work, as is the case with most dog walkers at Cadman each morning.

And as stated in my previous post, there are other park activities I don’t like or are fearful of. But since most parks are multi-use, I don’t have the right to walk through a baseball game, football game, soccer game, organized and approved cycle race whenever I feel like it. So I stay away from those areas at those specific times.

The same holds for park off-leash hours. From 6am (when Cadman opens)-9am and after 9pm until 1pm that small percentage of parkland in Cadman where there’s a designated off-leash hours area is where park goers may encounter unleashed dogs and their owners, obeying the law and following the rules that govern that NYC Parks-approved activity that’s been around for over 25 years, and was formally codified by the NYC Department of Health and NYC Parks Dept in 2006 and 2007 respectively.

As I don’t like hardball baseball, and speeding cyclists in parks, if you don’t like to encounter off-leash dogs and owners, simply avoid that small percentage of the park for that limited time. It’s a big city and everyone’s not necessarily going to love what other people do. But as long as it’s legal, designated, regulated and enforced, we all should extend courtesy and reasonable consideration to our fellow citizens.

I know you get it, and appreciate your consideration and understanding, even though you might not like it or agree with it.

I’m still laughing about carrie’s comment about dogs having “opinions.” It’s a shame they don’t also have opposable thumbs so that they too could add their thoughts to this increasingly mind-numbing debate.