Hamilton to begin gathering data to help plan creation of more dog parks

The City of Hamilton may be reaching out to the city’s dog owners, as it works on plans to open up many of its parks for dogs, so that their life doesn’t always mean being on the end of a leash.

City councillors say it’s about time Hamilton gets up to date on 21st century dog ownership.

That means making room for dogs and owners that don’t have big backyards, or access to open spaces, and providing more leash-free parks.

Hamilton’s four-legged, furry canine friends were big news at city hall Monday.

“This is the hot topic — this is the topic that comes up with every dog owner in Hamilton,” said Andrea Jazovit, the founder of Dog-Friendly Hamilton.

Jazovit told Hamilton’s Public Works Committee that frustration is building among dog owners who can’t access the leash-free parks that are available.

“Not everyone is lucky enough to have a backyard for their dog to run around in, and not everyone has a car that can get them to that faraway dog park, and people care because they care about their dogs so much,” said Jazovit.

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Councillors agreed that it’s not just a downtown problem, but an issue in other wards like Stoney Creek-Winona.

“People actually don’t just leave the ward, they leave town to go to Grimsby to find a facility there,” said Ward 10 City Counc. Jeff Beattie.

They say there aren’t that many leash-free parks in Hamilton, because the city’s rules make it difficult, if not impossible, to open new dog parks.

“We know that we’ve also experienced more intensification in some of our communities,” said Ward 4 City Counc. Tammy Hwang. “More housing and more pet owners, but we haven’t in turn facilitated the ability for more dog owners to be able to use the parks with their beloved creatures.”

So the public works committee is calling on city staff to look at ways to create more dog parks.

The proposal from Ward 3 City Counc. Nrinder Nann had unanimous support.

She says it could open up all kinds of opportunities for the city’s dogs.

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“So I think what I see happening is the possibility of different types of dog parks, in existing parks as well as new ones,” said Nann. “So in other municipalities for example, they permit dog owners to be able to let their dogs run leash-free in hours that the public generally doesn’t use the parks — so the break of dawn for example.”

That could also include parks for small dogs.

“Other municipalities have created smaller footprint fenced-off areas for small dogs,” said Nann. “We’ve heard a lot from small dog owners in Hamilton, that they’d like a safe place for their small breeds.”

Aimed at treating furry friends like one of the family.

“At the end of the day, our dogs are our companions and they also do provide a lot of mental health and opportunities with building our community,” said Hwang. “So we’ll see where this takes us.”

The councillors are asking the city to put together a working group to study changes in the dog park rules, and to get back to them by the end of the year.

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