Dog Parks in Winter

Strangely enough one of your security questions during registration contains the word winter. On to my question.

In Winnipeg there are several off leash dog parks. That being said, how are they being used in wither when the snow level prevents small to medium sized dogs utilizing the off leash area?

I will state that I am not a pet owner. Sadly I have allergies that prevent me from even handling animals without gloves. I wish I could (and so did my kids when they were growing up) but that is the way of the world.

My daughter has a small dog and used to live near an off leash park in the St. Boniface Industrial Park. However due to the animals size and sin some years the snow level even for a large dog, the park was basically unusable.

To be honest my questions are purely selfish in nature. I am a member of a car club that holds ice racing on bodies of water, frozen of course. We used to utilize the retention pond that is in the center of the off leash park that I spoke of. This year we have been told by the City of Winnipeg that because it is a designated off leash park, we can no longer hold our events there.

I was involved in the preparations of the area for our event. I would plow a large area to be used as our "pits". This area is generally about 150' x 200 (sometimes 300') so it is a rather large area. After we have finished with our event we would block off the area from the roadway in an attempt to prevent other vehicular traffic in this open area. The surprising outcome of this was there was now an area (bordered by high(er) snow banks) that animals of all sizes could run off leash.

Here ...
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Camiel+Sys+St+%26+Mazenod+Rd,+Winnipeg,+MB/@49.8788097,-97.0516804,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x52ea7750d97906f5:0x2a3c7 57cbf42fd88!8m2!3d49.8788097!4d-97.0494917

I am asking if this is something the city should reconsider in letting us prepare the area like this? It seems to me it would be a benefit to pet owners to have such an area for their animals.

If anyone has the time could you send me or post here your thoughts on this?
Thank You for your time.

Welcome to the forum Jim:

I think if I was in your shoes, I'd be having a chat with some of the "higher ups" to see if they can reconsider their decision regarding the area. Your operation likely just tied up the space for about 3 or 4 days, and in the long run it would leave it in more usable shape for the off leash dog people.

The other thing that could be causing issues is the insurance. There could be a question as to who is responsible for the insurance for all concerned - the auto club, the dog people, or the City.

They had a similar situation where I used to live. For 15 years there was something called a "Bikers Reunion" - motor bikes - and the city tried to shut it down due to the insurance issues. After some discussions, they were able to come to some agreements. :thumbs up

What a nice man you are. :) My first thought was the insurance issue too. Worth an ask though.

I would think people will be skating on ice while people have their dogs running lose and this could put people and dogs at risk . The city could put up signs saying "People are using the park at their own risk " so if anyone get hurt or bitten the city can't be held responsible . My city put up warning signs around a pond in the winter warning people that ice may not ne safe to skate on . There will be people that skate anyway . :wall: