Pictured: Bear Creek Dog Park.
If you like hiking with your dogs, and prefer having them off leash, better consider the off-leash areas in Garden of the Gods or Red Rock Canyon, or any of the eight dog parks/off-leash areas in our region.
Why? There are now “bike patrols” of City Animal Control Officers in our regional parks and open spaces, enforcing the law which requires dogs to be on leashes when not in a designated leash-free area. During the month of May they mostly issued warnings. Now they’re writing tickets. A first offense costs $50, second is $80 and a third offense means a day in court. The ticket is “per dog.” If someone has two dogs off leash, the first-offense fine is $100. (Please note: TOSC neither endorses nor takes part in the dog patrols. It is an issue of interest to our members. We are committed to informing them of new programs like this one that could affect their trail experience).
Their goal is to make the parks safer for all users. In a recent Parks survey, a large percentage of users said that they wanted to see more rules enforcement overall. Parks rules on leashed dogs are clear, but until now haven’t been enforced.
TOSC has created a free brochure that includes a map and description of all the off-leash areas in the region. Download or view it here.