City of Regina recommends new off-leash dog parks

REGINA – Regina pet owners who want more off-leash dog parks may be in luck.

At the Regina Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, city administration recommended three new fenced off-leash parks be built in new developments in the northwest, east and south parts of the city. In addition to the three new proposed dog parks, the city would also look at piloting two to three other locations for off-leash areas.

“It’s too soon to know the locations of the fenced sites as we’ll need to work with developers on that,” Manager of Recreation Facilities Development Janine Daradich explained.

The recommendation comes after a report that looked at off-leash dog parks in other municipalities across Canada compared to the community’s population.

The city found that there are two primary approaches to building dog parks, either through community groups applying for a designation of a space or the city identifying specific sites.

Looking at nine other cities, administration found the numbers can vary. Kamloops only provides unfenced areas and has one space for every 5,000 residents. Toronto has both fenced dog parks and un-fenced areas at one for every 106,000 residents. Saskatoon has eight fenced dog parks, open year round.

Regina currently has one off-leash dog park; the Cathy Lauritsen Memorial Off-Leash Dog Park on Forget Street.

The Regina Humane Society says parks are vital to help keep dogs healthy.

“A lot of behavioural issues end up stemmed in that dogs just don’t have enough exercise in a day so it gets bored and restless and isn’t able to express natural behaviours”, RHS Behaviour Chair Emily Garland said.

There are also seasonal off-leash areas within outdoor boarded rinks that can be used from May to September. These are located at M. J. Coldwell Park, Glencairn Park, Leslie Park, Mike Badham Park and Rosemont School Park.

The city is also looking at feedback from a June 2015 Ipsos survey that found that out of 600 Regina residents, 82 per cent support the idea of off-leash dog parks in the city. Only 36 per cent of the people surveyed owned a dog.

However, while 72 per cent support increasing the number of off-leash dog parks, 20 per cent oppose the idea.

Eighty-seven per cent of the respondent also said they would like the city to focus on other priorities rather than off-leash dog parks if building the parks meant other services wouldn’t go ahead.

The planning committee will review the recommendation. After, it would need to be approved by city council.

With files from Christa Dao.