AR-News: (CA) Petition to Save Off-Leash Dog Trails in East Bay Parks ~ Urgent

[C Cwynar]

~ Petition to Save Off-Leash Dog Trails in East Bay Parks ~ 

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      Reply to: see below
      Date: Tue Apr 13th 08:45

      Petition ALERT! Denial of off-leash access East Bay Regional Park District 

      This is an alert - O'DOG and CalDOG are asking you to take a moment - 
      to sign a very important on-line petition for a last minute policy 
      crisis that dog advocates got wind of this weekend.

      Fifty horse riders have signed a petition asking that off leash dogs 
      be banned from five miles of trails, specifically:

      1. The Dunn trail from Redwood Rd to the Graham trail
      2. The Graham Trail from the Dunn to Redwood Bowl
      3. West Ridge from the Redwood Bowl to the fork of the Baccharis Trail
      4. The Dunn from that point (Baccharis/Westridge) back to the
      Graham/Dunn Fork.
      5. All of Golden Spike
      6. All of Baccharis
      7. All of Montero

      The only off leash exception would be the horse back riders' own 
      dogs, as many prefer to take their dogs along with them on the trail. 
      In other words, the horse back riders who signed the petition are 
      asking to be their dogs to be exempt from all leash laws that they 
      wish the park district to impose on us.

      This subject is up for discussion and decision this Wednesday, April 
      14 at 2:00 at the Park Headquarters at 2950 Peralta Oaks Court. We 
      need hundreds of signatures to counterbalance the weight of a cluster 
      50 horse owners who have the ear of the Parks Department. (If you 
      want to go to the meeting and show your support, our item will be 
      heard around 3:00 pm)

      Here is the on-line petition. Just click on the url - it will only 
      take a second.

      http://www.petitiononline.com/ord38dog/petition-sign.html 


      Editorial comment: This is latest development is saddening to O'DOG. 
      Many, many hours of work has gone into this important educational 
      outreach program over the past three years. 

      Interesting facts you may not know:

      1. Between Dr.Ian Dunbar's animal behavior clinic and our monthly 
      "Pup and Pony Meet and Greet" we have educated over 250 dog handers 
      and their pups. 
      2. Number of horse riders attending our monthly "Meet 'n' Greet" 
      (other than the two volunteer mounted patrol women who volunteer the 
      own horses): Unfortunately... none. Zip. Nada. Zero. Guess no one 
      thought their horse needed experience or reconditioning.
      3. Complaints of negative interactions (barking, circling or biting) 
      have gone down from a few every month to just few in the last 3 
      years. That's a decrease of about 90%. 
      4. We have been invited by SF DOG to start a program in San Francisco 
      using horses from the San Francisco Police Department. 
      5. There is a dog group that wants help setting up a similar program 
      down on the Peninsula. 

      Sounds like a successful program to you? You bet.

      But, this Wednesday afternoon, there are folks who are going to make 
      sure that no good deed goes unpunished.

      Pissed enough to sign the petition yet? Good. Here it is the link:
      http://www.petitiononline.com/ord38dog/petition-sign.html 

      Pass the word.

      Nancy Rieser

      --------------------------------------------------------
      P.S. Many BIG thanks go to:

      1. Emily Rosenberg O-DOG co-founder (dogtalk at earthlink.net
      2. Alison Smith, CalDOGGER, owner of Canine Culture
      (www.canineculture.net) .and many others, all who had their ears to 
      the ground and organized the petition drive this weekend.
      ________________________________________________________________

      Check out our website at http://www.odogparks.org 


     
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