Walking a dog on leash is a cruel punishment
It's like forbidding a child to touch anything in a toy store
Moe Milstein
Vancouver Sun
Monday, August 08, 2005
The man in uniform crashed out of the bush on the opposite bank of Lynn Creek, yelling and waving in my direction. The object of his distress was the sight of my retriever, Callie, splashing about in the creek, doing the usual doggie things. Over the rushing noise of the river, I could just make out his words, "Put your dog on a leash!"
I did as he demanded, conceding defeat in this latest skirmish between myself and the keepers of the Queen's forest.
Walking your dog on a leash is like walking a child through a toy store and forbidding him to touch, fondle, sniff or even go near any of the goodies. And should he or she meet any other children in the store, they can only stare wistfully at each other as they walk by. In short, cruel and unusual punishment. Exercise it is not.
Although we live on the fringes of a vast forested terrain, most of that land is under the control of various government agencies, and dogs are either considered persona non grata or permitted to enter subject to a confusing set of restrictions. Lynn Creek, for example, is managed by the municipality, the GVRD and the federal Fisheries Department, each with its own priorities and set of rules.
For breaching these policies, my dogs and I have been ticketed or banished from most of the popular hiking trails locally -- the top of Mount Seymour, the Seymour Demonstration Forest, Lynn Headwaters, Cypress Park and Grouse Mountain. We have even achieved some notoriety in Whistler on the Cheakamus Lake, Singing Pass and Rainbow Mountain trails.
Why are dogs treated as such pariahs?
One fear expressed by park staff is the risk of disease transmission to wildlife. This is a legitimate concern, but the risk of transmission of disease is mostly the other way around -- from wildlife to domesticated animals. Most of our urban dogs are well cared for, vaccinated against infectious diseases and rarely carry parasites.
Giardia, for example, an intestinal disease caused by a water-borne parasite, is commonly called Beaver Fever for a very good reason. It is found primarily in wildlife. It is not called Poodle Fever.
The notion that animals in the wild enjoy some sort of special grace, becoming sick only by virtue of their contamination by human contact, is romantic but unfounded. Most of us have seen more bears and coyotes in our suburban backyards than in the forest. An aseptic interface between man and nature is not realistic.
Scott Kissinger of the Lynn Valley Ecology Centre reckons that a dog's zone of mayhem extends several metres on each side of any trail. Flora are trampled and fauna such as fledgling birds are threatened and may even be killed.
While I do not believe in sacrificing wildlife for our pets, the dog under control is not much of a risk to wild lives. As for trampled habitat, the amount of damage is a function of the number of dogs. We don't worry about coyotes stepping on the ferns. Given the enormous size of our fore-country, do a few more metres of impact really matter that much? And would this effect not be diluted by spreading out the areas available to people and their dogs?
Walking a dog on leash is a cruel punishment
Most of the landscape around Vancouver, although beautiful, is far from virginal. Walk along Lynn Creek in the Headwaters park, run by the GVRD, and you are walking along broad old roads that once served mining and forestry. Rusting old machinery, slabs of concrete and decaying water pipes protrude into the creek. As the creek flows down to the sea, it passes through the site of the garbage dump closed less than 20 years ago and probably still leaching toxins into the water.
Similarly, the Seymour River ends its journey in an industrial area hard by ship-repair yards and a nearby chlorine plant. Cypress Provincial Park is crisscrossed by ski runs as is Seymour Mountain.
Off-leash areas are few and far between, resulting in great pressure on the existing areas. Conflict between dog owners and non-dog owners is exacerbated by this pressure.
Spreading out the area available for off-leash meandering will reduce some of this pressure and will provide the 25 per cent of Greater Vancouver households that own a dog with the opportunity to participate in one of the greatest activities the coast has to offer -- a walk in the woods with your dog. Bring your poop bag.
Dr. Moe Milstein runs the Blueridge-Cove Animal Hospital in North Vancouver. blueridgevet@yahoo.com.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005