Post by Brendan OSullivan on Apr 13, 2010 10:39:27 GMT -5
I have been thinking of a dog owners association for sometime now. As stated when you first enter this board, my concept is ‘to promote responsible dog ownership and advocate for dogs and owners rights in the Whitchurch Stouffville Area.’
The obvious issue at hand is the lack of an off leash area and the need to advocate not only to get one, but to get one that dog owners will use rather than is easy for the town meet a minimum requirement. This however, is just one part of what I thought could be accomplished.
I think promoting dog registration, micro-chipping, spay/neutering and discouraging the small percentage of dog owners who are irresponsible would make the Town far more likely to work with us on dog related issues. Trying to dramatically reduce those dog owners/care givers who do not clean up after their dogs or allow them to constantly bark would improve our efforts with those that judge us by that small percentage. I would also like to arrange a voluntary spring clean up each year for the few areas that are complained about the most (Millard Reservoir etc...)
In addition, through fundraising and increased awareness we could support the OSPCA and the Georgina Shelter (which I have not checked out yet). If the vets in the area would work with us, perhaps we could have a serious spay and neutering program in place.
In advocating and giving a voice to dog owners and their rights, I simply thought an active and visible membership could ensure that a very small percentage of our tax dollars and of future town planning went towards our passion, our dogs.
The first question I am looking for input on is would people like to be involved in something like my above concept or limit it to only getting an off leash area and how involved are you willing to be?
In the last while I have received many phone calls and e-mails asking me very specific questions about where do I want the off leash area and what will the rules be and a lot of other issues. I was hoping that a large group of dog owners could come to some consensus on all these questions before we meet with the town.
If you are a dog owner, please let us know what direction you would like the Stouffville Dog Owners Association to take.
Brendan OSullivan
The obvious issue at hand is the lack of an off leash area and the need to advocate not only to get one, but to get one that dog owners will use rather than is easy for the town meet a minimum requirement. This however, is just one part of what I thought could be accomplished.
I think promoting dog registration, micro-chipping, spay/neutering and discouraging the small percentage of dog owners who are irresponsible would make the Town far more likely to work with us on dog related issues. Trying to dramatically reduce those dog owners/care givers who do not clean up after their dogs or allow them to constantly bark would improve our efforts with those that judge us by that small percentage. I would also like to arrange a voluntary spring clean up each year for the few areas that are complained about the most (Millard Reservoir etc...)
In addition, through fundraising and increased awareness we could support the OSPCA and the Georgina Shelter (which I have not checked out yet). If the vets in the area would work with us, perhaps we could have a serious spay and neutering program in place.
In advocating and giving a voice to dog owners and their rights, I simply thought an active and visible membership could ensure that a very small percentage of our tax dollars and of future town planning went towards our passion, our dogs.
The first question I am looking for input on is would people like to be involved in something like my above concept or limit it to only getting an off leash area and how involved are you willing to be?
In the last while I have received many phone calls and e-mails asking me very specific questions about where do I want the off leash area and what will the rules be and a lot of other issues. I was hoping that a large group of dog owners could come to some consensus on all these questions before we meet with the town.
If you are a dog owner, please let us know what direction you would like the Stouffville Dog Owners Association to take.
Brendan OSullivan