Winter Off leash area Ashbridges Bay to Kew Beach

[Shana]

Hi there - I received this email from a friend and thought I would
pass it along - while our family can't enjoy the extended off leash
area in the winters (Penny has good recall - Cooper - no way!) I think
it's important we fight to maintain all the existing off leashes in
the city and push for the creation of new safe, fenced ones (I can't
believe Scarborough has none!)

We'll be going down to show our support and enjoy a nice long
(leashed) walk on the boardwalk.

Shana

"There is a Rally this Sunday in regards to the Fall/Winter Off Leash
Snow Fence. The rally will be held at the Leuty Lifeguard Station at 1
pm. We need to get all owners/walkers down there to present a united
front. So walkers, let your owners know about this and how important
it is to show up. Nothing will change unless we press for it.
Apparently the press has been invited and so has Sandra Bussen. Dogs
are welcome."

Article from the Globe:

OFF-LEASH NO MORE!: PETITIONS WILL BE SIGNED
See Spot run. But not on the beach
Dog owners and walkers are fuming over the loss of their winter
paradise south of the snow fence

PETER CHENEY

February 14, 2009

The 10 metres of beach fringing Lake Ontario south of Balsam Avenue is
nothing but a length of sand.

Here, on the sandy reaches of one of the city's most beautiful
neighbourhoods, the latest battle in the unending War of the Dogs is
being played out. "You ask me, the whole thing is frigging
ridiculous," says Shallie Kennaley, a professional dog walker.
"Pathetic."

The new dispute was sparked in October, when the city put up signs
announcing that the strip of beach closest to the lake was off limits
to unleashed dogs. For owners, it was as though the Berlin Wall had
suddenly been erected. For years, the section of sand next to the lake
was a place to let their dogs run free during the fall and winter
months. Now it has been declared off limits, and police are handing
out $300 tickets to owners.

The Beaches community is home to one of the city's largest
concentrations of dogs. (City officials estimate that there are about
215,000 dogs in the city of Toronto; fewer than 33,000 are licensed.)
"Half the people here have a dog," says Anne Turner, a dog walker who
works in the area. "You move to the Beaches, you get a dog. That's how
it works."

So, dog owners have not taken the change lying down. Hundreds have
signed a petition circulated at Beaches stores that cater to dogs,
such as Bark & Fitz and Pet Valu. (The petition may go to the heads of
two city departments, two councillors, and Mayor David Miller as early
as next week.) "People are pretty perturbed," says Pet Valu manager
Priscilla Mongeon. "They don't understand why the city would do this."

The off-leash ban affects about two kilometres of beach between
Ashbridges Bay and Silver Birch Avenue. Although off-leash dogs have
always been banned during the busy summer months, the strip of beach
next to the water turned into a leash-free dog paradise each fall. The
area was set off by a wooden snow fence that city crews put up every
year - although the fence is designed to control snow and prevent
beach erosion, it has also served as the unofficial border of Dog
Country.

"The dogs have been coming here forever," says Timolin Daniel, a
Goldendoodle owner (and one of the petition's authors). "What's
happening here is completely unfair."

Sandra Bussin, ward councillor for the area, says the decision to put
up the signs was prompted in part by a beach clean-up program called
Blue Flag. "There's a lot of dog feces in the sand," she says. "That's
the part the dog owners don't like to talk about."

This week, the city ban was at the top of the agenda as owners ran
their dogs at Balmy Beach, one of two designated off-leash areas (the
other is at Kew Beach Avenue). The beach south of the snow fence,
meanwhile, stretched into the distance, an empty expanse of cold sand
that was now the canine equivalent of a no-fly zone. Sarah Jack, an
insurance broker who has brought her dog to the beach for years, was
fuming. "In the winter, there's no one out here but us and the dogs,"
she said. "What's the difference?"

Ms. Bussin says the decision to put up signs banning off-leash dogs
was made after complaints from a long list of residents. "There are a
lot of people who are afraid of dogs, and their rights have to be
respected," she says.

Although dog owners say the signs represent a new policy, Ms. Bussin
says they just serve notice of a rule that has always been on the
books. "Dogs were never allowed there in the first place," she says.
"All we're doing is enforcing the rules."

The war between pro- and anti-dog forces is legendary in the city of
Toronto. Some neighbourhoods have spent years fighting over access to
public parks for off-leash dogs, and there have been some ugly
moments, as in February of 2004, when someone set out poisoned hot
dogs in Withrow Park. Fifteen dogs were poisoned, one died.

To some Beaches dog owners, the new ban feels like the latest blow in
a long series of regulations that have made life in the city harder to
enjoy.

"So many rules, so many taxes," says Sean Cook, a firefighter who goes
to the beach almost every day with his two dogs.

"They make it miserable. I came here from B.C. because I thought there
would be more opportunity. Now I wish I'd moved to Tofino and turned
into a hippie."