The stupid – it hurts my brain!

I attended the Public Hearing this afternoon but did not speak. I remembered to send in a three page commentary before the deadline by snail mail, so my viewpoint will be noted.

Some of the more unbelievable, out-of-left-field comments I heard from the let-em-run-free contingent include:

1. If a dog bites you, it must be your fault. After all, this guy has been capturing fierce and wild feral dogs for over 30 years without a single bite. Bit twice? Attacked in the park? Must be you doing something wrong, bucko. You provoked the animal.

Never mind that this dog catcher probably used a lasso pole and was a professional who knew not to be bitten by feral animals that might be rabid.

2. Man and dog have existed as companions for thousands of years without using a leash. It's only within the last couple of hundred years that putting dogs on leash became prevalent.

Maybe that's because the world was a MUCH emptier place 200 years ago? It's untrue, anyways, because just as I've seen in the third world today, only the most valuable dogs were kept on leash – hunting dogs, sight hounds, Roman war dogs, and the like. Recall the biblical phrase, “Let slip the dogs of war.”

3. Dogs on leash get into more fights with other dogs than off leash dogs do, because they can't move away.

Perhaps that's because they are being accosted by an off leash dog? This possibility was never mentioned, but that's the only way my leashed dog could ever get into a fight with another dog. Of course, the careless “can we say hi” dog owner who lets their leashed dog come up in my dog's face without permission might discover my dog is unfriendly [TO DOGS] the hard way. Of course, this kind of altercation can be broken up much more easily since both animals are on leash.

4. If your dog is not socialized with other dogs and allowed to run free and play with other dogs, it will be aggressive towards PEOPLE and other dogs.

My dog, and many others in New York City, are living disproof of this ridiculous claim. My dog is very, very sweet towards people, is obedience trained, loves everyone who wants to say hello to her..just not other dogs. According to the offleash cultists, if I don't socialize her with other dogs, she's going to hate everyone and be
unhappy. Not true.

5. If your dog is not friendly towards other dogs, it's your fault because you don't socialize him during off leash time, and you are a bad dog owner.

Utter crap. Some dogs just don't like other dogs. Pit bulls have dog aggression bred into them. It's a dirty little secret the offleash cultists love to downplay. IMHO only an idiot allows a pit bull to run off leash ANYWHERE, EVER. I respect the power of dogs and I respect what a pitbull is, I don't believe in fairy tales. My dog loves people, but according to one off leash cultist who spoke today, that's not good enough; my dog has be to socialized to other dogs, too. Hell, I don't like socializing with other people I don't know, should I be forced to do that too? Think office christmas party…

6. Dogs can be controlled off leash. Fly ball competitions with hundreds of contestants prove this.

What on earth does this have to do with ill trained and untrained family pets running loose all over urban parks? Joe Blow Average Dog Owner going to Prospect Park is not going to have a highly trained obedience dog. Joe Blow Average D.O. doesn't have the time or inclination to train his dog. Most dogs do NOT respond to their owner's recall. That's just a fact of the real public world. Flyball what?

Irrelevancies abounded. Who cares that dogs do so much for us and we should give back to them? What does a therapy dog have to do with scary dogs running loose in the park? Never mind the tired cooked statistics about dog bites, etc. parroted ad nauseum by the dog cult's acolytes.

I loved the feisty lady from Queens, she was a hoot, she didn't take any crap from those bozos. She was great. Mr Holden was cool and professional as well, with some familiar shots from Park Advocate's website. Three rottweilers comin atcha. Nice.

I despair for our society after listening to these dog cultists go on and on for two hours. Decadence..is putting dogs above human beings.

We deserve our fate.

Kim E.
Brooklyn
Propect Park Patron