Bozeman not going to the dogs

published on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:22 PM MDT

By AMANDA RICKER Chronicle Staff Writer

Since the city of Bozeman agreed last month to allow dogs to run off-leash in Cooper and Centennial parks, some Bozeman citizens have asked for the same privileges in their neighborhood park.

NICK WOLCOTT/CHRONICLE Jhanek Szypulski’s Great Dane, Zao, found another use for his leash while hanging out in Cooper Park Wednesday. Now that a city ordinance will allow dogs to run free in the park beginning Sept. 24, some are pushing for similar rules at other city parks. But the Bozeman City Commission said this week that it won’t hear the requests until the new leash-free parks have a trial run.

“It’s too soon to think about anything further,” Mayor Kaaren Jacobson said at the commission’s Monday night meeting. “I think that this should be a slower, incremental process and we should see how it works in Centennial and Cooper.”

“I don’t intend to turn the city into a leash-free zone,” Commissioner Jeff Krauss said.

Brit Fontenot, assistant to the city manager, told the commission that citizens have approached him to find out whether other parks could be considered for leash-free status.

One citizen asked about Graf Park, in south Bozeman, west of the Valley View golf course, and another wanted to know whether the off-leash hours at Centennial Park could be extended, Fontenot said.

The commission in August approved an ordinance allowing dogs to run off-leash at Centennial, just south of the Gallatin County Fairgrounds, from 5 to 9 a.m., and declaring Cooper Park, near Irving Elementary School, a totally leash-free zone.

It will be officially legal to let Fido loose at those parks when the ordinance takes effect Sept. 24.

Other off-leash areas in the city are Burke Park, adjacent to South Church Avenue, the Canine Beach at the Bozeman Ponds off Huffine and Fowler lanes, Highland Park in the fenced in area on the south side of the Softball Complex, Snowfill Recreation Area off McIlhattan Road and Gallatin County Regional Park at Oak Street and Davis Lane.

Dogs are prohibited at the East Gallatin Recreation Area, Bronken Fields, the Softball Complex sporting areas, playground areas, beaches, ice rinks and specific recreation fields like softball and soccer fields.

Amanda Ricker can be reached at aricker@dailychronicle.com or 582-2628.

Reader Comments

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hooray4socialism wrote on Sep 17, 2009 11:56 AM:

" Does this really matter? When is the last time you saw anyone get ticketed for letting dog run loose? 90% of dog owners don't give a *&%^$ about what their dog does or where it makes a deposit. The other 10% deserve a gold star for good citizenship. "

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featherruffler wrote on Sep 17, 2009 1:20 PM:

" On behalf of myself and my dog, I DO care what my dog does, where she craps, and who she may be bothering and I think that there are more people like me than it appears. Those disrespectful, poo pile leavers make it seem like everyone in this town that owns a dog is lazy like they are, but so many of us really are responsible citizens and pet owners. Oh, and by the way, just because it's an off leash area it doesn't mean that you can just let your dog terrorize my dog and bother other people. "

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Sunneee406 wrote on Sep 17, 2009 7:04 PM:

" I don't mind if dog owners walk their dogs off a leash in any of the local parks. But recently I was walking at Cherry Creek and came around the corner and found a dog owner laying on top of her dog struggling to keep it from attacking me. This owner did NOT have a leash with her. How could you walk such an animal without a leash knowing full well it would attack other users of that area. What if I had had my young son with me? What if she didn't see us coming or was unable to stop her dog??? "

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