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Citizen complaint of the day: Crapping dogs, crappy owners in the Public Garden

Dogs in Boston Common

A fed-up citizen files a complaint that some dog owners took advantage of the season's first real snowfall to let their beasts go in the Public Garden.

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Comments

Clean up after yer frickin' dawg. Don't let yer dawg bother people who don't want to interact with it. Super simple stuff.

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Those are large dogs for the city. Some people let their dogs stay in a small apartment for most of the day, and that's not ideal.

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Jack Russells are small, annoying, high energy dogs who shouldn't be in apartments.

St. Bernards and Pyrs will just hang out being large.

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You can probably find exceptions but larger dogs need more room.

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Thats false. If you are properly exercising your dog based on the individual dog's energy levels, it is acceptable to have any size dog in an apartment. and most big dogs sleep up to 18 hours a day.

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It's not the size of the dog, it's the dog's energy level. A big couch potato like a St. Bernard is OK in a city apartment. There are small, high-energy dogs like cattl dogs, on the other hand, that don't do well without an active job to do.

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The Garden. Big difference. Correct, please.

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I will go hide my head in shame now.

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run back to your trust fund Brooklyn life?

Signed,

anon

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and the off-leash dogs there are out of control. I love dogs. I don't really care if people have a well-behaved dog off-leash that they keep an eye on and pick up after but there's a crew of owners at the Public Garden regularly that lets their dogs wander all over the place, hundreds of feet away at times, completely oblivious to what they're up to. The place is littered with turds.

I didn't file this complaint but I have complained many times. The Parks Dept seems genuinely concerned about it but so far I haven't seen them send anyone over in the morning when the packs of dogs are running.

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If you don't have your own property for your animal to defecate and urinate in, you shouldn't be allowed to own that animal. Why do we tolerate that a small fraction of the population can use public property as their dog's personal toilet?

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I don't have a dog and one of the greatest joys of my work day, between a crappy commute on the T and sitting in an office all day, is walking across the common and stopping to watch the happy dogs frolic. Always makes me smile.

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watch where you step.

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I want to marry you

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. Why do we tolerate that a small fraction of the population can use public property as their dog's personal toilet?

Because stewardship of public property rests in the hands of a democratically elected government, constrained by constitutional limitations, whose job it is to mediate among the conflicting needs, desires, and positions of the various constituencies that make up the public.

And because that process has led to a set of rules and regulations under which dogs are banned outright from some spaces, allowed with restrictions in others, and are allowed off-leash in still others.

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Public Garden rules are "No dogs off leashes" anywhere inside the park.

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In fact, Section 3(k) of the park rules prohibit dogs altogether in the Public Garden, whether leashed or not. But of course it's not enforced. And a past Commissioner was surprised when I pointed out this rule, and said, flatly, "that's not really the rule." Not to mention that the parks department has installed dog poop bag dispensers in the Public Garden, which is somewhat contradictory to the "no dogs allowed" rule.

https://www.boston.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/parks-rules-and-...

Maybe people would be better about following the rules if the Parks Department knew what they were, or was at least vaguely consistent about enforcing them.

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If you don't have your own property for your animal to defecate and urinate in, you shouldn't be allowed to own that animal. Why do we tolerate that a small fraction of the population can use public property as their dog's personal toilet?

By analogy, if you can't prove you own a parking space, you shouldn't be allowed to register a car (see, for example, Tokyo.)

Why do we tolerate that the tiny fraction of the population that actually plays golf or baseball gets to use publicly owned golf courses or baseball diamonds, to the exclusion of others who might want to use that space for some other purpose?

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To extend the argument to the point where it would seem ridiculous to someone?

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Were you trying to extend the argument to the point where it would seem ridiculous to someone?

It was already ridiculous without my help.

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With the second most popular use of public baseball diamonds and golf courses?

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Should I take it you're okay with the second most popular use of public baseball diamonds and golf courses?

If, by that, you mean "letting dogs shit on the same baseball diamond where kids are going to slide and skin their their knees," then the answer would be, "hell no."

I'm the guy yelling at other dog owners to be responsible, remember?

I just hate stupid lines of argument.

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So let's take Ledgerman Park - because more people don't play baseball than do we should do what with that space? turn it into an open unstructured field? You can use that argument for pretty much anything. I mean, you could argue that it would get much more use a travel lane for Storrow or a parking lot for MGH/Beacon Hill - is that what you are arguing for here?

At some point, the greater good argument leads to a wasted opportunity for diversity of experience.

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It is the Common. Not the Commons Do you even live in the city?

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I believe he was referring to a theory known as the tragedy of the commons. Which in this case, is applicable to the Common (or the Public Garden, as the case may be).

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If only we had some sort of park keeper or ranger .....

Oh wait we do, here's some HW, find out just how much off leash dog citations they hAve written the past 5 years....i bet its no more than a dozen smh

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by your argument the entire Stony Brook reservation should be developed because by definition it is not used by most people other than hikers, bikers, stoners and the occasional mentally ill murderer.

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Or ball players but they're not usually actually shitting on the ground and not cleaning it up!

WTF I can't believe this even has to be explained.

An owner let their dog shit on the middle of a sidewalk on my commute. With this dry weather it sat there for weeks.

We need DNA testing and much stricter enforcement on leash laws and other areas of scofflaw pet ownership. Jet the fines pay for the enforcement

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An owner let their dog shit on the middle of a sidewalk on my commute. With this dry weather it sat there for weeks.

That's illegal; the owner should be fined. It's not an argument for banning dog ownership any more than a car owner having damaged my property and driven off is an argument for banning automobile ownership.

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nmad dog it! Every dog should be registered, have their DNA recorded and then test their crap if they poop on the sidewalk! That'll teach 'em!

(all in jest - but apparently some condo associations are doing that - guess what - no poop on the condo commons!)

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People not picking up after their dogs is not only a problem in the public garden but also on the sidewalks in Boston. The suggestion of having dogs DNA tested when they are licensed should not be taken in jest, it is a good idea (assuming the DNA test can be done without causing the dog any pain). That way when the human doesnt pick up after their dog the human can be identified and fined. Apparently it works for condos so why shouldnt it be done for the city?

The suggestion that only people who have yards should have dogs is a bad idea. Under this logic only humans who can afford multi million dollar homes should be allowed to live in the city. Dogs who are not vicious have a right to live also, many dogs are nicer then many humans. If dogs arent given homes they may be killed. Also even when people have yards dog parks are a good idea so dogs can socialize with their own kind.

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What part about leaving disease-ridden SHIT on the sidewalk don't you get?

WTF, give it a rest. Yeah, hit and run drivers suck.
Never had to clean shit off my kid's shoe when she stepped in on a sidewalk b/c some other kind of douche drove off the night before!

Bizarro world.

Just clean up after your fucking baby and quit being an apologist or a douche. Pretty simple stuff.

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Just clean up after your fucking baby and quit being an apologist or a douche. Pretty simple stuff.

Where am I being an apologist for anything? By random accident of association, I actually know people with influence over park rules and regs, and I've been consistently asking for more enforcement against irresponsible dog owners...

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Hope Adam posts it. :)

But i never advocated banning dogs. And i never blame dogs. It's all about the entitled owners these days.
They need to be straightened out.

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