Comments on: Beware park benches!

By: Hurrah for squeaky wheels! | The Misanthropic Shiba

Hurrah for squeaky wheels! | The Misanthropic Shiba — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:53:01 +0000

[...] Remember this post? I sent a letter to the Parks and Rec Department of Nanaimo about it. (Richard Harding is the [...]

By: Bravewolf

Bravewolf — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:28:14 +0000

Hi, Jenna, You're quite right about the closeness of the dog park benches to the fence and I watch Tierce carefully. I've sent a message to the Parks & Rec director for Nanaimo and hopefully I'll hear something back from him soon. Dear Mr. Harding, My name is Julie MacTire and I got your email address from the City of Nanaimo website. I am writing to you about an incident that happened last Sunday (January 31) at the Nanaimo dog park. My small dog jumped up on one of the park benches that happened to have widely spaced planks and his right hind leg slipped through when he tried to jump down and got caught. This has caused a severe muscle strain, perhaps some tearing in the affected leg that is taking him some time to get over. As a result, I've become concerned about those benches that have widely spaced planks. While we discourage our dogs from jumping up on these seats, it happens sometimes before the owner can warn the dog away. Also, there are a number of parents with small children who keep their children on the seats to avoid an accidental collision with rambunctious dogs and I fear they could be at risk of an accident as well. I am wondering if you can give me any information as to what I should do to put forth a petition to the City to have the benches replaced or covered by material that prevents small legs from getting stuck. I would also be interested in taking an active role in fundraising for the modification to the dog park benches if that is a feasible option. Sincerely, Julie MacTire

By: jenna

jenna — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:18:28 +0000

The dog run I went to daily in my old neighborhood had benches like that and one little dog broke his leg. We replaced the benches with some nice hardwood benches with much closer slats and didn’t have any more injuries after that.

Another thing to beware of regarding benches in dog parks is how close they are to the fence! I bet Tierce could easily go over the fence in your photo from that bench. We had a park in Manhattan where that used to be a real problem until they replaced the fence with a much higher one.

By: rebecca

rebecca — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:33:49 +0000

the same thing happened to niko last summer… while he didn’t break anything, he scuffed his paw up badly where a chunk of skin was taken off… and he screamed bloody murder for quite a while!

By: Jonathan Fleming

Jonathan Fleming — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:28:31 +0000

Hmmm… This same thing happened to my Suki at the park once. She did the Shiba scream big time!

By: sukoshi's mom

sukoshi's mom — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:49:50 +0000

Are children allowed in the park? What if a child had gotten his/her leg jammed in between the slats? Something to consider.

If the dog park has a website/blog, ask the other dog owners for their support to get the slats reworked. Cite a safety issue for dogs and their owners.