Kids at Hoboken dog parks
More common sense needed at Hoboken Dog Parks
We’ve noticed a disturbing trend at Hoboken dog runs lately – people who bring their children inside with them.
There are several problems with bringing kids in. Some breeds do not have a particular liking to little ones, and the unpredictable nature of how kids interact might lead to some unnecessary injuries.
Even the Morris County, NJ Park Commission has a couple common sense rules at their parks in regards to children:
- Children under 12 are not permitted. The adjacent picnic area is available. Not all dogs welcome a child’s attention. Running can encourage a dog’s herding instincts.
- Children tend to approach dogs quickly, chase them, run, or tease dogs. This is a potentially dangerous situation. Children should use appropriate park areas.
Do parents think that now since they’ve already taken over most of Hoboken’s park space with their sugared-up hyper machines, that they’re entitled to the rest of the space?
It is our opinion that dog parks should be for adults only. Maybe over 18 – or at least in possession of a drivers license. The Hoboken dog parks are the only places we as dog owners can go to let our dogs run free, rough-house with other pooches and so on.
Parents: Please keep your kids out!
Other Hoboken dog run suggestions
Additionally – perhaps some new ground rules should apply at our dog runs. How about some clear signage that specifies some guidelines for dog-owners to abide by? Such as:
- Limiting liability by using the phrase: Enter at your own risk. Dog owners should be aware of their animals, and take proactive steps to prevent any and all out of control situations. Any time multiple dogs are off-leash presents a risk you voluntarily entered into.
- Tell owners to survey the area before entering – as well as those already inside to be aware of which dogs may be entering. If you see a particular breed that your dog doesn’t interact well with – either choose not to enter, or make the person coming in aware of the situation and avoid it if possible.
- NO STROLLERS, BABIES OR KIDS!
- And no unattended dogs! We’ve seen parents who actually just drop their mutts off while they multitask and play with the kids on the swing sets. They end up leaving poop behind as well. Unacceptable.
In the end, common sense always applies – and it seems like our society is in a downward spiral when it comes to using your noggin’.
Hoboken NJ
29 Responses to ** Kids at Hoboken dog parks **
April 6th, 2012 |
It will probably be at the expense of a small child that doesn’t know any better, that an ignorant parent will be taught a lesson.
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April 6th, 2012 |
It’s amazing that some people are even allowed to have children when they clearly can’t even take care of a goldfish! I hated taking my dog into those stinky cesspools, why would you let your kid in there? Bleck. Idiots.
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April 6th, 2012 |
Common sense isnt so common anymore…
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April 6th, 2012 |
I think this is a fine rule… however, can we also finally start enforcing the leash laws at non-dog parks where dog owners take allow their dogs off the leash to run around unchecked? I see this regularly at Columbus Park, and while I personally don’t have a problem when it is one or two dogs, at times you have in excess of a dozen dogs running around without leashes amongst children who are trying to play.
Neither side has a right to be a hypocrite about it- kids should stay out of dog parks where dogs are allowed to run unleashed, and dogs should be leashed at all times when they are in all other public areas.
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April 6th, 2012 |
Maybe Biff and Buffy like to play with the brown marbles
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April 6th, 2012 |
So the crazy bunch of parents in town can go ahead and call the police on us for walking our dogs near their precious kids’ parks. And yet it’s still somehow FINE for their grubby offspring to invade pretty much the only spaces dogs are allowed to roam freely in?
What a fair situation.
This is a misfortune waiting to happen, and it ain’t gonna be Fluffy’s fault…
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April 8th, 2012 |
One time when I was in the small dog run at Church Square Park with my late chihuahua who was half-blind and would bite anyone who came up on him, a woman WITH NO DOG brought her toddler grandson in there. It’s not a petting zoo people!
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April 9th, 2012 |
yesterday I saw a woman do a Michael Jackson at the dog park. She stood outside the fence and took her child arms and dangled them over the fence to get the dogs attention.
As with a need for a biking ordinance, the city of Hoboken has been approached with safety guidelines but it seems that any attention to safety is viewed as somehow bad PR.
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April 9th, 2012 |
BTW, there are various legal standards on this but one of the protections for the dog owner in this case is the fact that the law looks at whether the person bitten was in an area they did not belong. The other test is whether the animal could have been provoked. Clearly the infant scenario with the child attached to the chest and its limbs dangling is a provocation to an animal in a play environment. So a dog owner may not have a liability but the city owes a duty of care to protect those showing poor judgement.
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April 9th, 2012 |
First. I never take my kid into the dog park. I’m drilling into her to ask the human with the dog before approaching a dog.
Now 18 is rather old to be expecting a person to start taking responsibility.
When I was 12, my job was to take the dog on walks. But then I was a responsible kid.
Waiting till children are grown before expecting them to handle responsibility is why there are so many irresponsible young adults.
We are introducing responsibility to our child already. She is responsible for her toys (it is work in progress, soon her toys will disappear if not put away. She will have to earn them back.
After a 2 hour bus ride this weekend the people sitting near my daughter told me they were surprised at how well behaved she was. She knows when we are out and I tell her to do something, if I start counting, she will lose a privileged if she has not started to cooperate before I get to 5. All I have to do is say One and by three, I have a child that cooperating.
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April 9th, 2012 |
Jeez. I’ve been on the West Coast now for 18 blissful months. And we have a lot of dogs out here too.
But seriously? Kids in dog runs? I’m actually having trouble believing anyone is that stupid! 21 years in NY and NJ and I NEVER saw anyone take a child into a dog-run. Anyone who actually does that is probably foreign and doesn’t understand how we separate space. I’d go right up to someone with their kid in the space and just explain it. My guess is that would take care of the problem.
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April 10th, 2012 |
Naw, they give you a look look to kill. One local public figure actually shouted at me for questioning him with his dog tied to the child’s play run.
In response to westcoastbound who said:
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April 10th, 2012 |
I believe you.
And do people really have to be “foreign” to misunderstand the very simple concept of keeping children out of dog runs? Nope and, interestingly, the people I’ve seen with their kids (infants, really) in the dog runs aren’t foreign at all.
I’ve lived in NY (native) for over twenty years, and have spent almost ten years in Hoboken.
(I should add that some Hobokenites have also experienced a blissful 18 months.)
In response to animal_lover who said:
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April 10th, 2012 |
You make an important point about explaining WEST. Child endangerment is knowingly putting a child in harms way. Without signs at the dog park specifying safe behavior ie DOG Park Rules, the City of Hoboken is leaving itself wide open for responsibility in the event of a tragic incident. It has been brought to their attention many times but somehow they feel it would be bad PR for its “vibrant growing community”.
In response to westcoastbound who said:
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April 10th, 2012 |
In over 20 years in NYC and NJ, I will state it again, I never met a person who set foot with a child and no dog in a dog-run or dog park. I am surprised. I was trying to think of an explanation. That is all.
(Yes, and blissful likely because the place isn’t overrun with insecure nasty bitches with inferiority complexes and two-ton chips on their shoulders. And foul, foul, seethingly foul mouths, at that.)
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April 10th, 2012 |
Surprised? More like “superior as usual” around here.
Well, it IS kinda hard to see nasty bitches from their very shoes, isn’t it?
Shove it.
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April 11th, 2012 |
westcoast..I observed that behavior as well..dog walks are for dogs and play areas are for children… The key is that the most intelligent self centered people don’t take advantage of commen sense…Imagine fighting over pet owners and fustrated moms?
Crazy chit..
In response to mooshu who said:
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April 11th, 2012 |
Joey that’s the explanation I repeatedly hear the word that is used is “entitlement” . Entitled folks don’t believe common sense or laws apply to them and they will use every last penny and pull to show it. Thank God if you have a few tenacious souls who person it reason can prevail. It is costly in time and energy but I would feel responsible knowing that the child was at risk.
This applies to more than dog runs. I recently saw a man standing in a parking spot at night holding a young child so that no one could take the space. He was at the edge of the spot almost in the street w the child.
I have seen numerous young children playing on balconies unattended and in the swimming pool w no adult around. Then of course there are the women who get their kids to drop trough in the park to pee on the grass.
In response to joey maxim who said:
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April 11th, 2012 |
animal lover..As Jackie Gleason said (its a losing fight) children are precious and pets are man womans best friends…The town is not country,no fields to run and romp and be free..Hoboken is not a pet town…You walk the dog hire a dog walker while at work and their couped up in an apt or condo..no no no way..It’s unfair to the dogs..My sis has a lab,free to roam in the fields in her area..Just unfair…the town is a mile square n does not accommodate the freedom that these pets deserve..unfair to the pets but
many have the education but not the intelligence or understanding of an animal,that loves their owers but does not deserve the treatment,aka thinking its love.
In response to animal_lover who said:
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April 11th, 2012 |
Well Joey, there you have it, the ugly truth. I can’t find fault with your good sense and am glad you expressed it.
In response to joey maxim who said:
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