Top Ten Dog Walks

Yesterday I went for a walk with my dog, Dazy. Although little in stature, Dazy thinks she is a big dog, something that rather astonishes the actual big dogs.

Living on the North Shore, surrounded on one side by mountains and the other by ocean, you have to know there are a lot of dog walks around, where the dog can freely run off leash. There are also a many on/off leash areas.

It is actually very hard to pick out the top ten dog walks in Vancouver, because Vancouver is a very dog friendly city, and actually a pretty wonderful place to have a dog. There are many beautiful dog walks, both with both wilderness and cultivated paths.

I have only been on some of them, and they all have their own particular charm.

Once, I would have once said that Ambleside Park in West Vancouver was the best dog walking area, but recently there was a little kafuffle over the many tickets that were handed out by a rather pompous bylaw officer. (But hey–everyone’s got to be a Napoleon sometime)

There was the story of the kid with a dog on her lap-watching Dad play soccer being handed a $175.00 ticket, and by the end of it hundreds of dog owners came forward about being harassed by an officious bylaw officers. This officer apparently lay in wait for a dog to step foot outside the allowed area and then ran out to write a ticket. Apparently no discrimination was used for those dog walkers who had to park their cars away from the area or who had to walk through the prohibited area to get to the off leash park. This totally pissed off the dog walkers, but it sounded like it was the attitude of the By Law Officers who sounded like they were a pretty happy to have a little power over Canada’s most affluent inhabitants.

The issue is far from being settled, with the people being divided both with pretty arrogant attitudes. A swipe from a message board ” Who on this earth would want an animal - a thing that can’t wipe its bother after it poohs - to come into their house and put its dirty poohy bum on their couch, children, and bed? Sick stuff. Unhygienic and disgusting. And a MILLION web sites support the unhygienic aspect of dogs and the numerous diseases they carry wherever they go… beaches, parks, wherever. That is one reason they are NOT allowed in restaurants. Figure it out. The loudest voice in this poll is bad dog owners. Responsible dog owners are law-biding citizens. Anyone who breaks the law is not worth listening to because they lack morality, conscience, and viable social qualities.
Dog owners are keep dirty, unhygienic animals in their houses. Worse, now they want to force these creatures upon the rest of us. THEY ARE THE MINORITY. IN A DEMOCRACY, THE MAJORITY RULES. “

O.K. I wonder if people realize how totally psycho they sound sometimes?