Bring Your Leashed Dog To The Park(s) And Please Know The Rules

 Lakewood now allows dogs in two of its parks: Lakewood and Kauffman. However, if you just skimmed the headlines, you may not be aware of the various rules that apply when you take your leashed dog into the park. Here’s a refresher of what is in the City ordinance. Please obey these rules and help out others who demonstrate that they are not familiar with them.

•  Clean up after your dog. To put it more bluntly, use a bag or other pickup device to pick up dog waste – right away! And then put it in a trash can. This is true throughout the City.

•  Use a 6-foot leash, or if you use an extension leash, only extend it 6 feet in the parks. Collars and/or harnesses must be appropriate to the size and strength of the dog. In no case allow your dog off the leash in Lakewood or Kauffman parks, or elsewhere in the City, except in the Dog Park. Lakewood is fortunate to have a Dog Park, and recently won a legal battle to keep it open.

• Dogs must be under control of a person with the discretion and physical strength for reasonable restraint and control relevant to the animal’s weight, size and strength. For example, small children should not walk big dogs in the parks. Also, please restrain your dogs from their natural impulses to meet and greet people and other dogs unless they are expressly invited to visit. Even the friendliest of dogs sometimes surprise their owners. Please be respectful of others.

On paths, yield to anyone else walking or riding on them.

There are several areas where dogs are not allowed:

a. Playground equipment, playground areas, and 30 feet immediately surrounding them (if entering Kauffman Park from the North entrance, move past the playground equipment with your dog on a short leash without stopping);

b. The softball fields, whether or not they are in use;

c. Any garden or decorative areas planted with vegetables, flowers, shrubs, or other decorative vegetation;

d. The Kiwanis Pavilion;

e. The handicap-accessible ramp which extends from the eastern end of the top of the bluff to the lower Lakefront Promenade.

Dogs will not be allowed in the parks on days when there are special events, notably all day on the Fourth of July. Signs will be posted.

Some Suggestions:

Bring an extra bag or two to help pick up after others. The cleanliness of the parks is one of the things on which the program’s continuation will be based.

Also, remember the bag stations are “take one, leave one,” so if you can bring some extras to keep them full, thank you very much in advance! There also is a drop-off box for bags at The Furry Nation pet store (15800 Detroit Avenue) and GreenSmartGifts (14534 Detroit Avenue).

If you are interested in joining our team and/or would like to discuss extending this to other Lakewood parks, please contact us at leasheddogsinlakewoodparks@yahoo.com, visit www.leasheddogsinlakewoodparks.com, or “like” us on Facebook and come to a committee meeting. We meet on second Saturdays of the month at 9 a.m. During the warm weather we gather at Lakewood Park in the parking lot in front of the Women’s Club Pavilion for committee business and dog-related park maintenance. (In case of rain, the meeting is the following week.)