Every ecology must deal with the mundane matters of material in and material out and a dogpark is no different. A couple of years ago when the Monroe County Park Director, Frank Alkofer, was working so cooperatively with the dog owners at Ellison (having discovered that his initial tough guy approach was a disaster), we had wonderful conversations about community values.
No dog owner mistakes the park for a latrine, but there was no real way to dispose of waste without carting it home in cars. And only the diligent were willing.
I carried a small trowel and buried what we left. Others brought bags. Nothing was systematic, though, and when a crew of us volunteered for spring clean up we filled a barrel with 200 pounds of waste. Now that's disgusting. Frank helped us set up six barrels (we asked for nine, but settled) at strategic points in the park. It cost almost nothing, since we used 55 gallon drums, and a PVC pipe with notches cut every eight inches held plastic bags which all of us brought from home. They worked beautifully except for the occasional vandal who set a bag on fire. It was a fairly good system and could have been improved with conversation and reflection, and shoes stayed clean.
To our befuddlement, at Frank's retirement his successor pulled out all but three of the tubs and tubes, causing an immediate increase in mess and muddle again. There are none at two major entry points and one missing in the middle.
Successful, civilized towns have put in dog parks of many acres, similar to Ellison, with hills for hiking, streams for splashing and superb systems for handling waste. The best use underground septic systems or composting set ups. We were on our way to such plans when Frank retired. It is dismaying to find ourselves back at the start. Rochester is a rich, varied community, able to support activities and sports from skiing to rollerblading, from softball to frisbee golf, and can certainly offer a well maintained offleash site for the thousands of us who walk dogs for community and recreation. I look forward to that epiphany. Those of us who romp our pups at Ellison have healthier canine citizens, properly socialized, less barky, more delightful, than those with dogs penned at home in isolation, desperate to do what dogs must, barking neurotically, anxious, ill, despairing.
There are far worse wastes than dog poo.
2 comments:
I remember when the waste barrels were taken away. It was dismaying that such a counter-productive measure could have happened! Whether you walk your dog off-leash or on-leash it seems sensible to have a handy system to dispose of the, uh, disposables.
I hope the county park system will return to rationality about people with dogs in the park.
Dwain
When visiting the park, a favorite game my four year-old and I play is picking up the dog poo. Now people are usually very good about picking up pet wastes, but a few more trash receptacles would make it more convenient and accessible for all.
Still, when my daughter spots a wayward poop, she gleefully points it out while I joyfully pick it up. OK, maybe not so joyfully, but if you spend as much time at the park as we do, there is a chance that I may have missed an elimination or two from my own personal furry pals. So I look at it as a pay-it-forward system. It sets a good example for an impressionable four year-old, and hopefully inspires impressionable onlookers that grow weary of carrying waste to receptacles that seem to distance themselves ever-so-farther.
If you think it is a silly game, of course it is, but it really comes in handy when dealing with the wastes in my own back yard. It helps to have a keen eye and a person 40 inches from the ground point those things out for this tired old gal.
Post a Comment