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Letters: Suggestions for off leash dog parks in Ladner

I write with concern at the lack of designated spontaneously accessible neighbourhood off leash dog parks in Ladner
Off leash dog park
A letter writer has some suggestions for Delta council for new off leash dog parks in Ladner.

The following letter was sent to Delta council and copied to Delta Optimist

Dear Mayor Harvie and council:

I write with concern at the lack of designated spontaneously accessible neighbourhood off leash dog parks in Ladner.

Our dogs need places where they can be free to exercise off leash, to run and ramble, to socialize with other dogs, to play fetch (utterly impossible while on leash), all within spontaneous walking distance of their owners’ home neighbourhoods.

Currently in Ladner, only the Delta Manor neighbourhood has a designated off leash dog park within spontaneous walking distance, Patterson Park (which many dog owners fear because of its lack of isolation from vehicle traffic on Ladner Trunk, Harvest Drive, and Clarence Taylor Crescent). Otherwise, all other designated off leash dog parks available to Ladner residents are sufficiently remote from our various home neighbourhoods as to require inordinately long walks or vehicle driving to access. Thus, many, quite possibly all, dog families find themselves having to contravene Delta bylaws and let their dogs off leash in various Ladner regular parks and school fields when those parks and fields are idle.

Potential, but not designated sites for off leash dog activity, do exist within Ladner. I can readily think of two:

•The unnamed, hidden, and perpetually unused (except by park mowing crews), park across 44th Avenue from Spanton Drive has only a single point of public access that could easily be set up to safety contain dog play and is a perfect size for puppies, small, and medium sized dogs, has just enough room for a Chuckit ball throw, and could also accommodate an outdoor agility course.

•The right-of-way from 45th Avenue to Glendale Avenue between 47A street and King Edward Place has only two points of public access that could easily be adapted to control and safely contain dog activity and gives long, although narrow, running room, plenty of space for Chuckit ball throws, and also potential for an outdoor agility course and

I suspect similar sites also exist among all of Ladner’s various neighbourhoods.

Edwin M. Hopkins