Post-Thanksgiving Extended Off-Leash Hours

Videos shot, all today, apparently with a cell phone camera, but they do the job.

Peninsula Meadow, 11:05 A.M.



Terrace Bridge, 11:18 A.M.



Nethermead, 11:45 A.M.



Lullwater, 12:30 P.M.



And here I was going to go bird watching after these cretins finally left the park. Silly me.

Latest Prospect Illegal Loose Dogs Sightings.

Today

9:30 A.M., 6 off-leash on the peninsula meadow, including collie, German shepherd, black labrador, and black labrador mongrel
9:55 A.M., 38-year-old white female owner with grey jogging pants, blue sweat jacket, red gloves and a curly permanent throwing a ball to a brown-white boxer on the peninsula thumb
10:05 A.M., all-black shepherd mix on peninsula thumb, owner unseen
10:20 A.M., 30-year-old Asian with small white terrier midway up lookout hill, above lamppost 249

Happy Thanksgiving

Yesterday:'
7:50 A.M., young black male walking 5 dogs, one of them on-leash, along path from Nethermead to Peninsula. He lost all semblance of control of them when whey got onto Wellhouse Drive

Friday, Nov. 20:

9:30 A.M., white woman with Great Dane, a long-time repeat scofflaw, on the peninsula meadow near the water

Loose At the Maryland Monument and In the Hudson

This morning just before 8 in Prospect Park. The occupants of the Parks Department truck evidently told the owners to leash up because they did so as it drove by slowly. I didn't stay around long enough to watch them unleash their dog again.



* * *
Some inconsiderate, irresponsible moron--why does this phrase come to mind so often when we are discussing people who let their dogs loose in public, particularly when they do so illegally?--this time let a pit bull--his brother's, not his own--loose next to the Hudson River, with predictable results. The FDNY should be charging him for the rescue.

Unleashed Terrier Mauls Guide Dog

At a London train station. Video from the NY Post website.

Not Out of the Woods; Response to Winston's Email to PPA

From a correspondent:

I was going up the heavily-wooded Lookout Hill path when I stopped in front off a large unleashed German shepherd. The owner was a middle-aged white guy wearing a light blue denim jacket and a dark blue ski cap, and shiny Rayban-type sunglasses. I told him to leash his dog, that dogs are never allowed off-leash in the woods. What did the idiot say?

"Oh , we aren't really in the woods, we are on the path."

I said to him, "Hey buddy, look around you, what do you see?"

His response: "Oh, we really aren't in the woods."

* * *
Winston Smith earlier reported his emailed complaint to the PPA about dogs on the ballfields, and the response that they shouldn't be there and the matter would be referred to Josephine Pitari and the PEP. We said that he'd hear that the PEP had issued some ridiculously small number of summonses, that PEP would claim to be a big deal. From Winston:

I am getting the exact response you said I would.

forward this info to Winston Smith.
A/P Bk Sgt. Eason, 18 summonses issued in Prospect Pk for November 2009, will continue enforcement throughout park. TL
Josephine Pittari

As we've observed before, if there are 50 unleashed dogs on just the ballfields each day, and PEP issues even 36 summonses a month in all of Prospect Park, just what chance is there of a dog owner who lets his dog loose illegally getting a ticket? 1 in 100, if that? So on that assumption--which is wildly optimistic from our point of view--the expected value of a ticket is $1.00. No wonder these inconsiderate idiots feel free to abuse and ignore the law.

Play Ball! Not.

Winston Smith reports that today from 3:30 to 5:00 P.M. dogs were "all over the ball fields."

This Time PEP Does Demonstrably Less

At 11:30 A.M. on Sunday there was a dog owner on the Nethermead Meadow running his retriever off-leash. I watched Parks Enforcement Patrol vehicle #414, license plate L-87495 stop at the north end of the meadow and the officers motion to the dog owner. The owner leashed his dog and walked over to the patrol car. I was not completely surprised that the officers DID NOT issue a summons, but instead gave the dog owner a pamphlet with the rules and maps. If the dog owner was unaware of the rules (which he likely claimed) than why did he leash his dog when he saw the patrol car? I'm guessing that the PEP officers didn't want to take the time to write out the summons. Isn't that their job?