Park at LeDroit mis-use

This message is from the Bloomingdale Kids list at Yahoogroups. I thought that the issue raised was broad enough to post here on the neighborhood blog. The message submittor's name and Email address have been removed.

Park at Ledroit, miss-use
Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:37 pm (PDT)

OK,

So-we got this beautiful park we can all enjoy. There`s a designated area for toddlers, another one for older kids, there`s a dog park, etc.

I took my 12 month old today to the park to enjoy the swing. To my surprise, as we were packing to leave, a young woman comes in the toddlers area with her boxer dog, unleashed. The dogs runs over the rock climbing area up and down, and he sniffs the 2 rocking creatures (horses?). I brought to ladie`s attention that there`s a dog designated area/park area right behind. She answered that she`s aware of it, but it`s muddy after the rain, so she doesn`t want her animal to get dirty. Here, at the playground, she can let her run unleashed and get rid of some energy; since there`s padded flooring, the dog will stay clean. ``You wouldn`t want your animal to get dirty, wouldn`t you?`` she asked.

Excuse me? What I`m sure I don`t want, is my baby to play and crawl where dogs urinate. I am not going to be too picky and mention animal hair and allergies, though....

Don`t get me wrong-I love animals, and we always had a dog in the house (until we got pregnant) This is the ONLY outdoor space I thought it was dog urine free.

How do others feel about this?