Some dog owners howling mad over plans to toughen city's canine bylaws
More than 40 pet lovers vent their anger at city council committee
John Colebourn
The Province
Friday, July 15, 2005
Dog owners angry over plans to toughen animal-control bylaws bared their teeth yesterday at Vancouver city council.
"It is absolutely outrageous," said Bev Ballantyne, a dog owner and certified dog trainer.
"It's open season on dog owners -- and the general public thinks we can be banned any time they want."
Ballantyne joined more than 40 fellow dog owners to tell a council committee why the crackdown on dogs has them barking mad.
The proposed revision to an existing bylaw is part of a five-year plan approved last year to deal with the city's growing dog population -- now estimated at more than 50,000.
The city is proposing increased fines, staggered expiration dates for licences and zero tolerance for dogs let loose in on-leash areas.
Paul Teichroeb, the city's chief licence inspector, conceded it's been a real balancing act to accommodate all parks users.
Teichroeb said in 2003, more than 200 dog bites were reported -- from mostly off-leash dogs, which he said cause the most havoc.
"There's more dogs and a different attitude these days," he said. "Now people want to have their dog with them 24 hours a day."
David Gilmour, an 81-year-old who turned out to voice his concern about dogs running loose in the park near his West End home, agreed.
"I'd like to see responsible dog owners," he said. "There are too many dogs around."
Kaaren de Zilva disagreed -- especially with the city's limited hours for off-leash play.
De Zilva said her 36-kilogram Bernese Mountain Dog needs lots of exercise and can only get it running off-leash.
"It is ridiculous," de Zilva said. "Calgary has 300 dog parks. We're just asking for some beachfront for our dogs."
For Marinko Tabak, the canine conundrum at city hall seemed far away as he walked Rambo, his five-year-old Rottweiler, at Trout Lake, a park with both off-leash and leash-only areas.
"It's up to the owner," Tabak said of the problems that a small number of dogs -- and their owners -- are causing. "It's unfortunate that there are some bad dog owners."
Katie Ernst, Vancouver's supervisor of canine services, said a new booklet called Rex in the City is being distributed to help dog owners -- and called the tougher stance on dogs long overdue.
"It's trying to take a pro-active approach to managing urban dogs," she said.