SUNDAY Noon: Emergency Meeting on 17th St. Dog Park
The 17th Street dog park opened September 3. (Luis Gomez Photos)
An “emergency” meeting regarding the 17th Street dog park has been scheduled for this Sunday, November 15 at noon at the Dupont Hotel on the circle (formerly Jury’s Hotel, address is 1500 New Hampshire NW).
The meeting is being coordinated by Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B/Dupont Circle. Representatives of the dog park committee and Councilmember Jack Evans’ office will be there.
The major problems, according to the meeting invitation:
“The opening and closing hours are being ignored, the noise problems has become worse, and a fight between dogs—and then owners—last week brought things to a head.”
The new 17th Street park is beautiful and very nice. We don’t use it because Lupe needs more room to run and play (we go to Shaw). But, I hope this whole situation gets resolved.
I suspect this will be an interesting meeting.
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[...] } Neighbor Julie—who often attends dog park meetings—made it to Sunday’s “emergency” meeting regarding the 17th Street dog park. Here is her [...]
Pingback by Wrap Up of Sunday’s 17th Street Dog Park “Emergency” Meeting « Borderstan | November 16, 2009
I HEARD that one day, there was a dog fight (to be fair, these happen regularly…ours has gotten into them over, yes, toys…stop bringing toys to the park people!) and then a week later, there was a fight between owners. Dog ‘tiffs’ regularly break out, and only become “fights” when owners are wandering around on their cell phones or sitting on the benches.
Was the dog fight really bad? And what kind of fight did the humans engage in?
It is a shame that dog parks always seem to have the issue of governance. A few bad apples really can ruin it for everyone!
Does anyone know the circumstances of the fistfight? Curious.
Our dog does not do well at Shaw – I find the dogs to be more ‘aggressive’ (play hard in a way our dog does not respond well to) and she reacts badly, so we LIKE 17th St in that the dogs are a bit different. Granted, our favorite “park” was Mitchell unofficial dog land, but that’s closed. Sad panda.
As much as our dog (she’s big, but doesn’t need to run around) likes the park across the street, I can’t enjoy myself there. Too many tennis balls for dogs to guard, too many owners on cell phones, or that don’t know dog behavior so get freaked out when a larger dog plays with their dog.
That said – Shaw has done SO WELL with ensuring their park runs well. Circle Dogs was supposed to have a few meetings with George before 17th St opened, but I left the group and am not sure whether that happened. George has great input on how to properly run a group and a park, so I certainly hope he attends on Sunday. Shaw Dogs can offer great input that seemed to get overlooked at the last community meeting.
CoHi Neighbor: Yes, we take our dog to Shaw Dog Park on 11th Street. In fact, we AVOID the 17th Street park. Shaw is much better for any dog beyond the small-sized ones. (Ours is medium-sized but strong and tough and plays with big dogs.) It is a totally different atmosphere and crowd at Shaw. The dog owners there seem to know more about dogs, understand dogs better, etc. It is hard to articulate exactly the difference, but it is very real. I think it also helps that George and the others with Shaw Dogs are very responsible and do a great job with the 11th Street dog park.
I don’t use this park as I live up in col hgts but i’d like to hear how the meeting goes. Are you going? Or if anyone plans to go, can we get a mini-report as to how it went?
This park sounds like such a great asset to the community, I hope those who patronize it serve as better stewards.
In my experience with Shaw Dog Park, the owners have been very attentive and the dogs were well behaved. I think it helps having such a large lot for the dogs to run around.
most people are inconsiderate, self centered, oblivious idiots. so don’t hold your breath that things will change.
Yay!!!! The dog park is back and everyone is in a hissy fit!!
Happy Friday everyone!!!!
We took our dog early on, but the park has been taken over by irresponsible owners. Two weeks ago, we took our dog there, and as we approached, a Rottweiler off his leash ran towards us on the street. The owner was on his cell phone and clearly saw this happening, but didn’t call his dog off. The dog charged my dog, then lifted up his leg and peed on her.
Again, the owner did nothing. We hollered at the owner, he ignored us.
We pushed the dog away, and he ran off towards his owner. We then walked towards the owner, trying to flag him down. He walked into the park — still ignoring us and talking to someone on his cell phone.
He proceeded to talk on his phone the entire time he was in the park, leaving other people to watch his dogs (both of which were on the aggressive side towards other dogs).
It’s people like this that have turned us off to spending time at the dog park. It’s sad, really, because early on, we met some very nice folks whose primary focus was to ensure their dog got some exercise and socialization — and they kept watch over their dogs the entire time. But lately, it seems people are more interested in just letting someone else babysit their dogs, and do nothing when their dogs misbehave.
Very dangerous.
Fist fight?! PLEASE tell me someone has this on youtube?!?!
We’ve basically stopped taking our dog to the park because of other owners, too many toys, and the smell. I also live across the street (across, not down, nearby, etc…across) and the noise is baaaaad.
However, as someone who was once involved with Circle Dogs and has the Facebook page attached to her facebook account, I encourage everyone to attend. Things won’t change unless people see the results of inaction (park closure). I hope it can be a constructive and respectful dialogue so people can come together and make the park better for everyone.