dogs

In response to a citizen complaint about a McLaughlin Playground baseball field on Mission Hill being locked up all the time except for when the local Little League is using it, the city says:

The little league field and the batting cage is locked because ... of some dog owners who allow their dogs to run wild and not picking up after their dogs.

Jed Hresko spotted this extra fuzzy thing among the carriages tonight.

A concerned citizen complains:

Can someone PLEASE do something about all the unleashed dogs in the Arboretum? I should be able to take my kids there without being accosted multiple times by dogs bigger than them running full bore at them. Nobody to enforce?

The Herald reports BPD is now investigating the incident, which happened as tensions are rising between dog owners who keep their pets leashed in the park and those who don't.

Brian D'Amico and AlertNewEngland report a man went over the seawall at the Castle island Sugar Bowl to try to rescue his dog, then couldn't get back up over the seawall. The firefighters of Ladder 19 pulled him back over - along with the dog.

The Parks and Recreation Commission approved a plan this week to set up a rotating system of dog areas on the Common, to be funded by two private groups.

Under the plan, five areas - three along Beacon Street and two near the Parkman Bandstand - will be designated as dog area, but only two will be in use at any one time. The areas will be marked by signs, rather than fences and dog-poop bag dispensers will be installed. Also:

Rules for the recreation areas will include: all dogs must be licensed and vaccinated, dogs must wear collars, no excess barking, and dog owners/handlers may not bring more than three dogs to the area at a time.

The areas will be set up just as soon as the Friends of the Public Garden and Common Canine raise money for running and maintaining the areas and for restoring "turf damaged at the site of a pilot off leash dog area located on the Beacon Street side of the Boston Common near the steps leading to Joy Street."

Late this afternoon, Boston firefighters and EMTs rushed to the Jamaica Pond boathouse, off of which a man took a plunge into the ice-covered water after his dog did likewise, a day after a woman and her dog had to be rescued from the icy depths. Both man and beast got themselves out and left the scene before emergency responders could ask any embarrassing questions.

Boston EMS tweets the woman was taken to a local hospital this afternoon to be checked out after firefighters and police managed to get her out. The dog was also recovered alive, Alex Jones tweets.

Mike Ball reports from the Boston Snow Dog Run today near the Stony Brook Reservation skating rink.

Those of us with images of driven Ititarod racers fairly devouring 1,000 miles of ice and snow were obviously amused at the huskies playing with each other and sometimes pulling in different directions. It seems they are largely pets who have a great time. Getting them competitive is not always easy.

Boston Zest shows us three leonbergers, a breed of dog nobody here at UHub World HQ had ever heard of before.

Lehane fans searching for his missing beagle say the town wants them to start taking down the hundreds of flyers they've put up with her picture, Wicked Local Brookline reports.

Missing Tessa

The writer writes tonight:

[O]ur recent and beloved rescue dog, Tessa, jumped the fence in Brookline and has been roaming through the wilds of Coolidge Corner for the last 24 hours. It's possible she's staying in some good Samaritan's home right now or has tucked herself away on a porch. But if anyone sees her or knows of her whereabouts, please reach out to this page. Here's a picture of her. She's smart, fast, and immeasurably sweet. She doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She's micro-chipped, but her tags were off when she was let out into the yard. Naming of character in the next book for anyone who gets her back to us! (No, really!) Again--Tessa, black-and-tan Beagle, 24 hours on the lam, sweet as all hell. Thank you!

And dachshunds generally prove somewhat useless in getting them out.

Leslee watched a Halloween pet parade in the Back Bay yesterday. One of the participants was this boxer.

Posted under this Creative Commons license and in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

UPDATE: Logan the labradoodle back with owners, safe and sound.

Logan, a year-old mini labradoodle, was last seen around 3:45 p.m. yesterday at Tenean Beach.

He has an olive drab collar with a neon orange stripe. He's small, maybe 20 lbs., and dark brown.

Also: " He spent the night outdoors in the rain, and we're not sure how he's doing. He's pretty skittish, and at this point, is most likely terrified."

The Globe reports the teen is expected to survive, as is the dog a police officer shot this afternoon in Maverick Square.

The Dorchester Reporter interviews a woman who says she was walking her leashed dog at Victory Road Park near the gas tank when an unleashed pack of dogs attacked first her pet and then her:

At this point I realized that she was about to be disemboweled and I had to do something. I started kicking the dogs as hard as I could and the dog "Bailey" looked up and grabbed my right pant leg. He shook it momentarily and at that point it occurred to me that if I were to fall to the ground my dog, my unborn baby, and myself would be killed.

By leaving out hot-dog pieces soaked in antifreeze, Charlestown Patch reports.

Earlier:
Somebody leaving rat poison out for dogs in the North End.

WBZ reports the MSPCA is beginning to see cases of dogs falling ill after ingesting rat poison while out and about - two in the North End over the past week. The city says that while it does put out rat poison, it doesn't leave the stuff out in the open where dogs might get at it.

Tom Menino and City Councilor Rob Consalvo, however, are aghast at a law that overrides the city pit-bull ordinance.

The MSPCA reports Mace the pomeranian mix is now short a couple of toes, which had to be amputated after getting mangled at the top of an escalator at the Forest Hills T stop:

The doctors concluded that Mace's foot was so damaged that surgery was scheduled the following day to remove two of his toes. Doctors at Angell expect Mace will make a full recovery and will even learn to walk just as well as before on his now slightly altered hind leg.

An outraged South Ender wonders why dog owners refuse to go to the neighborhood dog park instead of befouling Blackstone Square:

Leash enforcement. Now. I've counted 18 dogs running unleashed. One has just mounted and began mating with another, both too far from their owners for it to be broken up before my 6 year old nephew asked me what was going on. This is madness. The fountain is a filthy dog bath, and the stench of poop is in the air no matter which bench you sit on.

NorthEndWaterfront.com posts photos of dog walkers walking their dogs on playing fields meant for kids.

Knife on X-ray. Image via MSPCA/Angell.

Angell Animal Medical Center surgeons managed to extract a knife from Bean the Roslindale Bull Mastiff last month. No word on whether they left the cheese, however. The MSPCA reports:

A disgusted citizen in Jamaica Plain complains about neighborhood dog owners:

what is up with all the dog crap on the sidewalks in JP? winter is usually bad, with sneaky dog owners leaving layer on layer of crap piles to be covered with snow until the spring thaw reveals what looks like anarchaeological dig gone very wrong. but we haven't had snow and crap is everywhere! can we at least get some signs up, not that i think the troglodyte owner can either read or care. and no, i don't have a photo-- do u really want one?