Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Irresponsible Dog Owners Behaving Badly - San Francisco's Dog Blog

Stanley Roberts must be one of the most brazen reporters in the Bay Area today. His KRON newshow, "People Behaving Badly," is a cross between Punk'd and the Chronicle's "What's Not Working" section: he catches people on tape doing obnoxious, illegal, and dangerous things, and tries to hold them responsible for their actions (or inactions).

This week's show was about San Francisco's Dog Blog's favorite topic: the irresponsible behavior of dog owners at dog parks. The report catches several folks walking their dogs in violation of the City's leash law; catches two dog owner's failing to clean-up after their pets; and notes that in the single park reviewed by Stanley Roberts, three off-leash pit bull attacks occurred in the past three months.

Oddly, the report calls this park a dog park, but also notes that leashes are required. We suspect that this is not an official dog play area, but because Carl Friedman refuses to enforce leash laws at city parks, most other users refuse to go there, creating the impression in Stanley's mind that this is a place set-aside for dogs.

Catherine Heenan's lead-in was brilliant: There's at least 1 park in San Francisco that requires dogs to be on-leash, she says! It sure feels that way to responsible dog owners who desperately need on-leash places to take their pets.