Photo by Claudia Chang
Do dogs belong on the trail? Our readers seem to think so—a whopping 82 percent of you said “yes” when we polled you online. But there were some caveats. Dog owners need to act responsibly. So we asked EO contributor Adam Chase and managing editor Jayme Moye to face off over the issue.
Dog Gone
I’m a trail runner. I am not your dog’s chew toy. Nor do I like the smell of your dog’s crap or the sight of your dog’s shit in a bag festering on the side of my trails. And, thank you very little, I don’t really appreciate it when “Dylan” or Marley” goes chasing wildlife while you act all put out for having to repeatedly yell at him despite the fact that he pays you absolutely no mind.
But at least you can see him so that you comply with “voice and sight command” rules right?
Surveys from some of the people who make 4.7 million annual visits to Boulder mountain parks report that dogs, the four-legged accompaniments on one-third of those occasions, are the greatest source of conflict in our public spaces. In fact dog problems account for more than double all other enforcement actions and infractions combined. And we thought rogue mountain bikers were the culprits.
And those enforcement issues don’t even address the many environmental concerns raised by canines and the fact that they expand the radius of their recreating guardians. By their nature, dogs mark territory, bark at and chase down deer and other fauna, and poop. A lot. Not that we should blame dogs for being dogs, even misbehaved ones. It is like encountering bratty children; their spoiled conduct is the fault of the parents, their guardians.
It is too extreme to ban all dogs in open spaces, but the current system makes Boulder feel like one big dog park and I know quite a few parents who are justifiably frightened to take their young children on a hike because they’ve had too many encounters with dogs that either bite or trample the kids.
Perhaps the solution is to have more leash-only trails and increase the enforcement efforts and feces patrols, funding those programs with higher fees for licensing and stiffer fines for violating voice and sight requirements and poop pick-up rules. Alternatively, there could be dog-free days and a schedule like that applicable to mountain bikers on the Betasso Reserve Loop, where they are prohibited two days a week.
–Adam Chase is the trail editor of Running Times magazine and a frequent EO contributor.
Dog Days
This is not a new argument. People have been discussing the pros and cons of allowing dogs on trails since I moved to Boulder twelve years ago. And despite all the eloquent debate, it comes down to this: if you don’t like dogs on trails, don’t move to Boulder. Even better, just stay out of Colorado all together. If you were born and raised here, and somehow still despise our community’s off-leash dog policies, consider leaving and moving to Mentor, Ohio, where I came from. There are no trails there, and dogs stay in the house, lying at their owners’ feet through countless reality television episodes, as well as Browns, Cavs and Indians games. You’ll fit right in. The point is, there are dog friendly places and not-so-dog friendly places. If you’re not-so-dog friendly, maybe you’re in the wrong place.
I admit that the issues raised by the anti-canine sect are valid. No one likes dog doo on the trail, or aggressive dogs or clueless owners (er, excuse me, guardians) who let their dogs run rampant after defenseless toddlers, old people and prairie dogs. But the number of people who’ve been negatively impacted by dogs (or their droppings) on Boulder’s open space trails isn’t high enough to be statistically relevant.
There are 99,466 people living in Boulder, according to a December 2009 US Census Bureau estimate. Even if 100 people were annoyed by a dog while hiking on a trail this year, we’re talking 0.1% of the population, hardly enough to waste city time and resources to remedy. So are dogs really the issue? Or is it a handful of people who don’t fit into our healthy, well-educated, dog-friendly, oasis at the foot of the Rocky Mountains? Surely Boulder wouldn’t have been named the #1 Best City to Raise an Outdoor Kid by Backpacker magazine or the No. 2 Healthiest Town in the US by Men’s Journal or the No. 1 Happiest City by Moneywatch if we had a misbehaved dog epidemic on our hands.
As for competitive athletes like Chase, who can’t bother being slowed down by man’s best friend, I suggest you stick to the trails that don’t allow dogs. For your own peace of mind, and also because no one wants their sweet, old pooch plowed into by an aggro runner who doesn’t brake for furry friends.
–Jayme Moye is a freelance writer.
Reader Response from the Web
I take my dog with me everywhere I can and I clean up my dog’s poop all the time. But unfortunately, many dog owners are too irresponsible to do this. If nobody cleans up dog poop on the trail, it gets pretty disgusting pretty fast. If you want to let your dog poop all over the place in your back yard, go nuts. But don’t ruin the public trails and parks that others enjoy, as well as give all dog owners a bad reputation because you’re too irresponsible and thick-headed to clean up your dog’s poop! It’s a real shame how some people are so unaccountable for their own and their dog’s actions.
–Jason
