Monday, November 10, 2008

telling on myself

when i read the comments posted on the ridge to rivers site about off leash dog policy there was one including "i received an email from Marianne asking for support for their push towards having dogs off leash wherever possible and wanted to do just the opposite and state my opposition to it."

of course my first (very human) reaction was "who is this and how did they get on the mailing list? purge the list!" but then i realized that a) this person misunderstands our position- never have we said we want a free for all or that we think that all dogs should be off leash everywhere and b) i started this blog because i think it's important to have public discourse and that includes listening to (and finding solutions with) people who have a different point of view.

my personal opinion (which will no doubt anger some dog owners) is that, just like we have pedestrian only trails for people who don't want to interact with mountain bikes, we should have dog on leash or maybe even no dog trails for people who don't want to interact with dogs. everyone deserves the opportunity to have a pleasant trail experience.

but i do mean everyone- including dog owners and their off leash dogs- and there should be easily accessible trails available.

anyway- beautiful, moody fall morning. my favorite patch of sagebrush- and it smelled wonderful this morning-


a runner stopped to admire the view below with me, saying he was sorry he didn't have his camera with him too. the photo doesn't do justice to how beautiful the golden sunrise was coming up over the valley with the snow visible on the owyhees.

not a very good shot, but there are a black & yellow lab in this photo (below) presumably from the houses above the water tower road. i wanted the officers there to take the dogs to the ihs without passing go. this sort of thing (and it happens regularly- susan martson mentioned these same dogs to me last week) really really gets my irish up.

i sent julia a note & she said they were looking into some ideas for dealing with this problem.

7 with, 4 without, everyone following the rules & pleasant.

lastly, my favorite rhodesian ridgeback decker-
here's to another week!

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