Unleashed Dogs Hotline

[norman]

Apparently, one has to go through Animal Control Services to report a rampaging or simply "off-leash" dog. ACS will then talk to a By-Law officer who will presumably do something about it.

Or so I'm told ...

416 - 338 - PAWS

(416 - 338 - 7297, I believe, for people who don't enjoy wasting time matching letter to numbers)


Let us know if it goes anywhere if you call in a report. I think they're getting a little fed up with the situation, too.

Toronto residents pay for "leash-free" areas in public parks all over town -- there's just no excuse for the irresponsible ones who cause these problems.

"An' dat's da name o' dat tune ..."

-nb

[Anonymous]

Not enough by law officers to act on tips.

[KPaw]

Not enough by law officers to act on tips.

I absolutely agree with this.  The other thing, sadly, is that you have to be very careful to whom you make any sort of remark concerning their off-leash dog.  I learned this the hard way last summer when a huge and unruly dog upset an entire pond of swans and ducks.  I politely, and among other people who witnessed the same scene, reminded the owner that this was not an off-leash area but there was, indeed, a huge off-leash area (talking about High Park) just a little east.  Well, the flow of abuse and threats that spilled out of the idiot's mouth at all of us was unbelievable.   Had it been approaching dark and had I been alone (with my expensive camera, no less) I definitely would have regretted opening my mouth.  You just never know what kind of crazy person you are addressing so caution must be used.

[angieinto]

Thanks for posting the number. I think maybe if they start getting some calls  maybe, just maybe they can start to do something about it. I plan on calling today, and will continue to do so every visit I see it.

It saddens me that a lot of dog owners let their dogs chase squirrels and ducks, because they think it's "fun" for them, when they'd be just as happy chasing a stick or a ball, in an off leash area of course.

[norman]

angieinto and all: I know about bureaucratic bison-droppings, and I know it's frustrating being put on "Ignore" and having to listen to crappy Muzak for three days or so and feeling like it's hopeless and it won't make any difference anyway because these civil serpents just blame some other Fortress of Voice-mail and now you have to start all over again so why not move to Yellowknife and maybe I won't be treated like some pet-hating nutbar ...

But, the only alternative to getting out of town or getting depressed and overwhelmed with despair and hanging yourself in the laundry room with the little black-and-white 13" television tuned into one of those American freak-shows ("I made love to a foreigner who wore a bowler hat in an elevator in a flophouse outside Cincinnati, Ohio, and about nine months later gave birth to a Gambel's Quail who looked eerily similar to Dick Cheney who then shot me in the face") is to call, call, call ...

Believe me on this: Squeaky wheel and all ... just be relentless and call and call and call and be disturbingly nice about it, but put on the "terrified for the animals" bit, and ask who the Councillor is in your area and who the Supervisor is (At Animal Control, I believe it's Carl Bandow, son of former Supervisor James-of-the-same-surname, with whom I conducted an interview years ago which was the kicker in a story published in a regional weekly blah blah blah enough with the pathetic self-aggrandizing drivel) and keep calling them and their supervisors and have your completely uninterested friends to call them, too ...

Well, the point is that you have to get them to the point where they might do something helpful, just to never hear your all-too-familiar droning on and on ...

[P1Guy]

I was thinking more along the line of getting myself a pet Coyote that I could let off the leash.
It seems that all the public parks have become dog parks, even when there are leash free zones within the park you get the people that believe they have the right to not leash their pets.

I had one lady say if I was not walking with a camera, the dog would not have been growling at me.

Hmmm... maybe a small caliber would work better than the coyote.  :lol:  :lol:

[Misty01]

thanks for posting the number I walk my golden on a leash everyday around the school by my house; how ever there is one crazy neighbour who keeps walking their sheep dog off leash and every time it's out when my dog is out there is always a fight =( If they just kept it on a leash there'd be no issue!!

[Bird Brain]

I had one lady say if I was not walking with a camera, the dog would not have been growling at me.

 :shock:

Yep, that female is definitely a candidate for a "Darwin Award"!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Awards

[Leslie]

By-law officers do clamp down periodically on dogs running loose (last campaign around High Park area was, I think, two years ago, or maybe that's just the last time my dog was spritely enough to get taken to the park).  It's like the police trying to control speeding--not enough of them for all of us.  And I think dogs chasing the squirrels is a good thing--we encourage ours to do it often in the back yard (not in parks, but that's for her safety)--nothing scares a rodent like the bark of a terrier.  Squirrels in cities don't have enough predators.

[norman]

Just browsing the archives when I spotted Leslie's contribution ...

Um ... guess who was here first, before humans and their domesticated dogs and all this pavement, pollution and peculiar postings?

Sciurus carolinensis , in far greater abundance then than now, with the landscape blighted by concrete and steel in place of once magnificent Carolinian forests.

Sure, we had to make room for ourselves, but your bias is most unusual.

--nb

[Leslie]

Hi Norman, apologies for not replying sooner--I got distracted these few weeks playing in the garden.
Re squirrels:  I'm genuinely curious as to whether there were more of them before European settlement.  I suspect squirrels have adapted to live quite well in close proximity to civilization.  I suspect their numbers went up with increased agriculture (more food, fewer predators), especially since there would have been some trees left standing for them to nest in (and given that they get into houses I suspect they would have been quite happy nesting in barns and other buildings).  I think squirrel predators would have been foxes, wolves, cats eg bobcats, all species that did poorly when people came and cleared the land.
Pet dogs (and small children) chase but rarely catch squirrels.  They don't have the hunting skills.  While it's annoying to the people trying to watch or feed the squirrels, I'm not persuaded it's harmful to the squirrels.  I think cars kill more squirrels than dogs do.
If you know of any data on historical squirrel populations--please share, I'd love to know.