Green Acres is in the Bangor Daily News 28APR08
On Saturday, April 26th Green Acres Kennel Shop co-owner Don Hanson gave a presentation for the Friends of Belfast Parks dog park subcommittee discussing canine stress and canine communications. Articles to accompany that presentation can be found here: Understanding Canine Stress and Introduction to Canine Communication. This presentation was covered by the Bangor Daily News in an article appearing on Monday April 28th. Unfortunately we felt the article overly focused on the recent controversy over the dog park initiated by a local Little League group. Our letter to the editor, addressing our concerns, can be read below and a PDF version of the letter can be accessed here.
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TO THE BANGOR DAILY NEWS
I am very pleased to see that BDN covered my recent presentation for the Friends of Belfast Parks (“Got Stress! Pet consultant says dogs do”, Bangor Daily News, April 28, 2008). The dog park subcommittee first contacted me a year ago to provide advice on how to make the dog park a fun and safe place for dogs and people. I have continued to be impressed with this groups desire to promote responsible dog guardianship.
Unfortunately, the story makes it sound as if my presentation only arose due to recent objections to the park by a Little League group. The reality is that I was approached one year ago, well before any controversy, and the focal point of my presentation was recognizing canine stress in an effort to improve the quality of lives of our canine companions. A major contributor to stress in dogs is a failure to meet their physical, mental and social needs; a well planned dog park can alleviate this.
While statistically, young boys ages 5 through 9 are the greatest risk of getting bitten by a dog, those bites are most likely to come from a dog the boy knows, not by an unknown dog at a dog park. The most frequent reasons children are bitten — inadequate parental supervision, ignorance of canine behavior and lack of respect for the dog. While I am sure everyone shares the Little Leagues’ concern for safety, statistics from the Center for Disease Control suggest that 21 out of every 1000 softball/baseball players will be treated in an emergency room for serious injuries related to their sport whereas only 6.4 individuals per 1000 will be treated for dog bites.
There are many places where kids can play baseball and very few places where people can take their dogs to play. Time and time again I have heard advocates of competitive sports for children exclaim how these sports teach life lessons and values. I see an excellent opportunity here for the Little League to teach a valuable lesson in sharing by letting Belfast’s canine community have their park.
Sincerely,
GREEN ACRES KENNEL SHOP
Don Hanson, BFRP, CDBC, CPDT
President
Bach Foundation Registered Practitioner, #UKP-2003-1215H
Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, IAABC #207
Certified Pet Dog Trainer, CCPDT #1010007
Professional Member Assoc. of Pet Dog Trainers, #973
TDI Evaluator, #688
AKC CGC Evaluator, #970
