To leash or not to leash?

For the past 20 years, dogs have been allowed by informal policy — but not by law — to run and frolic off-leash in designated areas of city parks between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m., called courtesy hours.

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation is currently deciding whether or not to codify its unofficial off-leash policy into law through the rules of the city.

“We think they are a great thing,” said Jama Adams, spokesperson for the parks department, about the proposed changes to city rules that would make the off-leash hours legal. She said that the parks department regards its existing off-leash policy as successful. “But we welcome the public’s comments.”

At a Feb. 22 public hearing on the city’s off-leash policy, more than 60 people spoke, and one sang, about the off-leash issue.

“The hearing was overwhelmingly in favor of the proposed amendment,” said Sami Naim, parks department general counsel and facilitator at the hearing. He added that he thought the written comments, which are submitted by the public up until the hearing, would be the same.

The majority of people in attendance at the hearing wore large NYCdog.org buttons. NYCdog (pronounced “nice dog”) is a coalition of dog owners and dog owner groups that collected over 13,000 signatures on a petition making the off-leash policy part of the city’s rules. Robert Marino, president of NYCdog, spoke in favor making the courtesy hours legal, but recommended that the parks department clarify its language to promote responsible behavior by dog owners and improve signage in the parks about legal off-leash areas and times.

Dog owners and trainers in favor of the off-leash rule believe that allowing dogs to exercise freely makes them healthier, more relaxed and better socialized with other dogs and humans. “One doesn’t have to be an animal scientist to know that the more a dog is able to exercise its “dogness” – to run and play, to socialize with other dogs – the happier it will be,” wrote Jonathan Safran Foer, resident of Brooklyn and author of “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” in a New York Times editorial. Foer takes his dog, George, to Prospect Park for unleashed morning runs.

But not everyone agrees on the merits of leash-less time. The Juniper Park Civic Association of Queens began and continues to spearhead organized opposition to the legalization of off-leash hours. Last year, the group initiated a lawsuit against the parks department’s courtesy hours, but in November 2006 the State Supreme court ruled that the parks department’s off-leash policy is legal.

“No one can tell me that dogs pooping all over Central Park or Prospect Park is healthy,” said Robert Holden, president of the Queens civic association. Although the city is cleaner since its “pooper scooper” laws were passed in 1978, the problem has not been eliminated.

No one knows exactly how many dogs live in New York City, although estimates come in at more than 1 million. Only about 100,000 of them are licensed, according to city health department records. The new regulations would require dog owners who allow their dogs to go off-leash to carry and show evidence on request that their dogs are licensed and vaccinated against rabies.

Members of the Queens civic association also oppose the city’s off-leash policy because they believe that unleashed dogs cannot be controlled adequately by their owners.

The number of dog bites in the city has declined dramatically over the last 50 years from over 40,000 annually in the 1960s to less than 8,000 in 2003. Most dog bites occur in city parks, but no records are kept about whether the dog was leashed or not at the time of the bite.

Last December, despite the concerns raised about health and safety by the Juniper Park Civic Association, the city health department supported the parks department existing policy and recommended the off-leash hours be made legal. The health department had received more than 13,000 comments in favor and only 202 against the courtesy hours.

The few individuals who spoke against the off-leash policy at the public hearing said they were afraid of dogs, had been bitten or injured by unleashed dogs, or they felt dogs threatened park wildlife, especially birds.

After the parks department completes its review of the comments submitted about its off-leash policy, it will post a “notice of adoption.” If the parks department decides to convert its current off-leash policy into law, the change will go into effect 30 days later.