Dog walking areas or dog play areas
Tanequil-PGO
Posts: 5 ✭✭
The last few days I have come across 4 different nominations for dog walking areas. I have rejected all them on the grounds that all of them stated there is no duty to clean up the dogs poop (municipality comes in once every blue moon to do that).
Personally, I think it is a gross location for game play and I most certainly woud not want my kids to go there playing and consequently not watching their step. It baffles my why anyone would nominate these. I give them 1* for unsuitable location.
But, there are no actual guidelines on this kind of thing. I wonder how others rate this type of nomination? (if you get to review them at all)
Comments
Dedicated off-leash areas for dogs, often called "dog parks" actually do meet criteria. It meets two of the three major eligibility criteria:
A Great Place for Exercise: A place you'd go to get some fresh air, stretch your legs, or exercise. Places that encourage walking, exercising, and enjoying public spaces.
You're doing all of these things with your dog, but you're still enjoying a public space and getting exercise.
A Great Place to be Social with Others: A favorite gathering place for friends or strangers alike, where you can share a drink or meal, be entertained, or watch public life happen.
Pretty straightforward here. A dog park is a gathering place where you can watch public life happen and be very entertained (dogs!).
The fact that the image you posted has an actual sign marking the area as a dog park, is publicly accessible, and that the submission accurately describes the thing being nominated (I don't speak Dutch, I'm assuming here haha) means that it is a great submission and should be accepted.
A quick google search also indicates the dog owners in the Netherlands are obligated to pick up after their dogs and can be fined if they fail to do so. The fact that municipal staff come to do extra clean up really is only an indication that the city really wants this to be a safe and welcoming place for people to bring their dogs.
5 stars.
For me it depends on what its purpose is. If it is a play area for dogs or an area to get in some exercise with your dog then I accept it. If it is just an area to let your dog go to the bathroom, like in the USA we have dog walk areas at rest stops along the highway but they are typically only used for dog potty stops, then I would be hesitant to approve them unless some other criteria is in play.
I recommend being open minded. It’s probably easier just to accept them all, 5* with signage. Not all 5*’s for me, but some. You can 3* or 4* them for not being appealing if you would like
Dog parks I generally always accept for the reasons @stayKeener-PGO mentioned. Ive also submitted multiple with great success. If i see a “off leash” walking area for dogs like many cities tend to have I tend to reject those as they aren’t a park its just a path for dogs to run down when walking. They tend to try and submit every sign of it thats every 10meters as well
I recently got one of those to review, I gave it 4 or 5 stars, for the reasons that @stayKeener-PGO mentionned. Mine was in Belgium, but I’d do the same for Netherlands.
5* even with stated 'no clean up requirement' as per the post in the picture. These do not fall under mandatory cleaning of sidealks and such.
Wow and gross.
Thank you all for your response though. I have learned something today.