Royalty

Edgerton Park is a dog-on-leash park, and yet many, I would say increasingly most dog owners are allowing their dogs off the leash and treating it like a dog park. I understand that everyone needs to get out and get fresh air, but I have not had a visit in the past year with my kids without dogs off the leash harassing us, sometimes aggressively. Dog owners, keep your dog on a leash. Nobody wants to play with your dog. New Haven Police and Animal Control, please enforce the leash laws. My kids have been threatened and charged by dogs there, and have become increasingly skittish. Even if the dog is friendly, we don't want them in our space, be it playing soccer, having a picnic, or sledding.

I am a dog lover, and I worked with others to create a space for off leash dogs to run at 59 Fair St. Recently, instead of walking a few blocks to Union St Dog Park, people have been allowing their dogs to run off leash in Wooster Square. At first, it was just now and then - and the dogs were well behaved and walked closely with their owners. Now it is an everyday occurrence, with a regular group meeting after work at the park's center. I have an old dog so I give these unleashed dogs lots of space but, within the past 2 weeks, large dogs have run at us, one jumping on me and scratching my legs as I picked up my small dog. The owners were unapologetic and responded "whatever" when I asked them to leash their dogs so, as usual, a few jerks ruin it for everyone. I see NHPD in the park frequently (thanks for that), but they don't seem to say anything to these owners. Perhaps it's not their job to enforce city ordinances, but someone should. Also, FWIW, I've noticed more dog feces in the park. Perhaps it's more difficult to clean up after a dog if they are running off leash and the owner is far away/not paying close attention. I hate that I'm this person, but we all need to be considerate of others.

The dog park has been vandalized. Someone stole the picnic table that was in the larger ring and they destroyed the fence in the process (see photos). Now dogs can get out because the fence has collapsed.

Also, there appears to be a pole missing, or a large gap in the doorways of both large and small dog parks that are used to bring in the lawn mowers. For the small dog park, it's large enough that the small dogs <10lbs can get through and escape.

Also, there are very large holes in the ground in the large dog park as if someone or something has been digging.

Hello,

The fence at the dog park is in need of repair. Both large and small dog park entrance gates and the double doors in the large dog park where they open the gates to get the mower in are bent so the doors no longer close and dogs are starting to slip through the cracks. Someone put a baby gate against the hole in the large dog park but this will not solve the problem in the long term. The handles to the entrance gates are bent so they no longer close shut as well.

Thank you.

Please police this issue

The tenants from the Corsair apartments continuously use my property as a dog park because they are too lazy to walk to the end of the street to use the proper dog park. So far they have killed the plantings in front of the house and all of the grass along the tree line. These people are so rude that they actually walk up my driveway and into my yard with their dogs. When I tell them they are on private property and the dog park is located at the end of the street, they act like they have a right to be there and sometimes even argue with me about it. I had one guy today tell me that he was going to bring his dog there every day and there was nothing I could do about it. These people are not good neighbors! How do I make this stop?

There are two really aggressive dachshunds at this house. They are frequently unleashed and have attacked my dog and others on the street.

I’d like to make a complaint about the dogs off leash in Edgerton Park.

The sign on the way into the park specifically states dogs are to be kept on leash, however, once you around the bend get to that first big hill on your way in, dogs are always running off leash.

On 1/24/21 (mid afternoon), my seven- year- old and his friend were chased by a large dog that came out of nowhere- no owner in site. They were terrified. After I managed to wrangle the dog I must’ve shouted “ who’s dog is this?” several times before the owner leisurely walked over to claim his animal. No apology and a “no harm, no foul” attitude. This is not the first time. I’m tired of these dogs beings off leash and even more tired of their lackadaisical owners who could care less about where their animals go and what they do. Edgerton is not a dog park. And the thing they don’t seem to realize is that every time that happens, they’ve gotten lucky- should the situation have gone awry, and someone was injured, the outcome would’ve been bad for everyone involved. So, for the sake of all, I would like to see the situation rectified ASAP.

Best,
Erika Lake-Thomas

Wooster Memorial Park used to have a “No Dogs Allowed” sign, which greatly deterred people (especially pizza-eating tourists) from bringing their dogs into the park. But now the sign has gone missing and people are bringing their dogs in increasing numbers. This park is frequented by lots of little kids and it’d be nice to keep it poop-free. Can we please have the sign replaced? I made a similar request to the parks department but they haven’t responded.

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