Comments on: A Dog Park Behind Garrison Elementary?

By: Stephanie E. Abney

Stephanie E. Abney — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:57:41 +0000

I am a fourth generation, native Washingtonian, parent, grandparent and a documented, highly qualified DCPS teacher at Garrison. I also, have enjoyed the company of family pets my entire life. However, I don’t feel that the health, comfort and recreational needs of dogs take precedence over the health, safety and gross motor needs of our young children. Over the past year, our students have been stepping in and transfering bacteria from dog excretment into the school. Even if feces is “scooped” bacteria and or E.coli strains can still be present in a localized area (i.e, the Garrison field)when large numbers of dogs use the area on a regular basis as a toilet. I’ve presonally observed as many as 30-50 dogs gathered on our field during the week after 4 p.m. Just today, I noticed a lady walking her large dog on the field while children played softball on the field and little ones climbed on the jungle gym. The dog defecated at least three times and even though his owner appeared to have a bag she did not scoop his poop. Our school children like to roll, jump, fly kites, play ball, run, touch plants that strike their curiosity just like any other child. Why should they be subjected to the possibility of contracting or ingesting infected excretment? Inside the walls of Garrison we have standards for teaching and learning. We use these standards to judge mastery and effectiveness of various skills. What is the standard and who determines how well a pet owner removes excretment to minimize transference of bacteria? Who will measure whether or not there is significant bacteria or excretment left behind from the gathering of a large amount of dogs in a small localized area over the course of one week? Who will monitor or determine if a child who becomes acutely ill with asthma or a kidney malfuction acquird their sickness from playing in a space that can be equated to playing in a large “scooped kitty litter box”? If your child attended our school would you want them playing in a field that is urinated and defecated on in large quantities everyday of the week? Would you want your pre-schooler to be afraid to retrieve a ball because they’re afraid of unleashed dogs? We cherish the community relations that we have shared for the past 75 years. We invite you to volunteer, enroll your child, visit, or work with our PTA or staff so that all parties, people and pets can be happy. Please don’t judge us by the results of three day test scores and use that as a litnus to decide if our students are more important than pets. Maybe, something can be worked out so dogs can exercise while still respecting the health of children and school property.

By: Resident Too

Resident Too — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:40:12 +0000

You left out one important part…”No Dogs Allowed” and “No Dog Walking” is clearly posted all over the field. Divisiveness notwithstanding, at least the church had Garrison Elementary’s permission to park cars there. Now, every inch of street parking (and then some) is taken up every Sunday morning, with an empty field nearby (save one or two poodle walkers) that could be used to alleviate parking headaches. The final insult is that “the needs of children” appears to have been a Trojan horse all along to make space for a few people to walk their dogs every Sunday morning.

By: Resident

Resident — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:24:47 +0000

So, what are we saying to the children that attend the school, play on the playground and also live in the neighborhood. The purpose in the beginning I thought was to give it back to the children. Their are those children that are afraid of the dogs - speaking as a concerend parent. Enough is enough! I am not against pets, but stop taking from our children. W

By: IMGoph

IMGoph — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:50:17 +0000

so you’re an opponent? why? it doesn’t really make any sense to editorialize on that without a reason. is it just out of a sense of “take that, whitey?”

By: Puppies First!

Puppies First! — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:20:40 +0000

That’s a very myopic position, Mr. Wemple.

If we don’t show dogs today that we care for them enough to give them recreation space, some will become mal-adjusted delinquents, and that will come back to bite us in the end.

It is well established that recreation is a necessary integral part of a healthy Dog’s development. In many enlightened places, it is a mandatory part of obedience-school curriculum. Alas, DC’s public obedience schools are not all so enlightened. But depriving Dogs of sufficient and necessary room to run wild in a programmed and structured fashion is not only not fair to them, it has been demonstrated to impact their future ability to matriculate successfully into adult Dog taxpaying society. The resulting dysfunction has even been shown to negatively impact Dogs’ ability to care for their own future Pups (not that every Dog needs or should have Pups, some prefer instead the companionship and the lesser-responsibility that comes with owning human children), and so be passed forward from this generation of Dogs to the next.

Just think back to what was important to you when you were a Young Whelp, and I’m sure you’ll start to understand.