My apology to dog owners in Peterborough

I am pretty sure I owe a big apology to a lot of dog owners in this city. For years I have been singing the praises of Rogers Cove as a terrific place to let your dogs swim. In fact I would extol the virtues of living in a small city with a large natural lake at its centre. Today I was reminded by the SPCA (acting as by-law officers) that dogs are not allowed off-leash in this city.

Several years ago I listened to one of our city councillors complain that the majority of the calls she received from her constituents were from retirees complaining about dogs running free. (I call bullshit on that one.) I should have realized at that time that the city councillors were more interested in appeasing older generations than growing with the times and establishing a place in which new and younger families might like to live (Case in point - PTBO has the 2nd largest retired population % of all the cities in Canada; and while the unemployment rate continues to shrink across Canada, it increases in this city - albeit only slightly.)

But successive councils have been lazy as well. While out-right banning dogs from the park in the centre of town, (which makes the councillors look like they are doing something), they do virtually nothing to dissuade the flocks of geese which defecate constantly in that same park and claim there is nothing they can do about it. Likewise they do nothing about allowing cats to roam free. Nor do they do anything about the feral cats that live along the railway tracks and woods. Dogs are also the only animals required to be licensed and the local Humane Society sends out threatening renewal letters every Fall to ensure their major source of revenue is not lost.

As many of you know I am involved in animal rescue (as a volunteer) and do my best to rehabilitate and exercise fosters dogs as well as my own dogs. Obviously this city is the wrong place to do that. I will be looking for new locations to walk/run/swim my dogs. Hopefully when I find it, they will have a gas station near-by so I can buy my gas there; and hopefully they have a supermarket near-by so I can buy my groceries. I have no reason to patronize local stores. Let them cater to the old people.