Saanich dog owners protest district's off-leash park strategy

Dog owners in Saanich are protesting a strategy that’s been proposed by the district to reduce off-leash access in parks.

The noon-hour rally was held outside Saanich municipal hall Thursday – encouraging passersby to honk in support along the Pat Bay Highway.

“I’m upset that it feels like I live in a community where they’d rather I didn’t have a dog,” said protester Cherene Cranston.

The "People, Pets and Parks Strategy" has been generating feedback for the last two years and will be considered by Saanich council in a special meeting on June 26.

If approved, the strategy is proposing 57 leash-optional parks out of a total of 172. A dozen of them have been identified for fenced off-leash areas, such as Rudd Park.

“Not everybody is an exemplary owner,” said Rudd Park user Ryan Paisner. “I’ve had verbal altercations after being chased and barked at by dogs with owners that didn’t seem to understand the responsibility of it.”

He also expressed health concerns for children playing on the playground, after observing instances where pet owners didn’t clean up after their dog.

“As usual in these situations, it’s the irresponsible ones making it bad for the majority,” said protester Pam Koiner.

Cordova Bay Beach could become the only off-leash beach year-round.

For one of the district’s largest park’s, staff are recommending PKOLS introduce a 0.4-hectare space that would be fenced in and a 1.5-kilometre trail loop for off-leash dogs.

“There’s 21 kilometres of trails,” said protest organizer Trish Fougner. “I’m really frustrated because I pay my taxes here.”

Fougner calls the trails of PKOLS Park home – and is among others feeling pushed out and unheard.

“It’s a big deal when you have an 11-year-old black lab who’s never been on-leash and I have arthritis,” she said. “It’s very difficult in many areas in PKOLS to have a dog on-leash and it’s dangerous for people to be pulled in the wrong direction.”

Protesters also shared concern with the parks that have been chosen, saying too many of them lack shade or are too close to roads.

The District of Saanich was unavailable to comment Thursday.

The strategy goes before council at 6 p.m. Monday with feedback from the public.

The report from staff says implementation of the strategy would help protect and restore natural areas, give people who are afraid of or wanting to walk in areas where dogs are on-leash a place to visit, and clearly communicate where dogs are allowed to be off-leash.