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Sandy Journal

Looking Out For The Little Guy; Protecting Small Dogs at the Dog Park

Mar 27, 2015 07:59AM ● By Megan Mahajan
Imagine it’s a sunny Saturday afternoon and you’re headed out to enjoy it with your furry, four-legged best friend. You head to the dog park, where you’ve gone so many times before to create fun and memories. You throw your dog’s favorite ball and watch as he happily runs after it and trots back to drop it at your feet, while you praise him and scratch behind his ears. The ball is ripped and worn from so many days at the dog park, but it’s his favorite because it’s little enough for him to carry with ease. He’s just a little guy, but at the dog park, size doesn’t matter.

Or does it?

You throw the ball again, but this time as he chases after it, your dog is blindsided by another who is more than five times his size. There is nothing you can do in the split second it takes for the dog to grab your little dog’s body between his teeth and leave your best friend lifeless on the ground. How could you have known that this seemingly perfect day at the dog park would be the last one you spent with your dog?

While this sounds horrific, it is the unfortunate reality for one Sandy resident. On March 7, an unknown large dog attacked and killed a small dog at the Sandy City Dog Park. While not all large dog breeds are violent and no one knows whether this dog truly meant to hurt the other, it does beg the question of whether enough is being done to protect small dogs.

These issues were presented at a recent meeting of the Sandy City Council, where it was made known that, along with the one fatality, two other small dogs had been injured recently by larger dogs at the park. The Council feels strongly that something does need to be done to keep the small dogs safe at play, which may mean providing separated areas for dogs of different sizes.

Sandy City does not want to see any more of its residents subjected to this kind of horror and loss. As members of the families of Sandy residents, the dogs are residents as well and deserve a safe place to do the things that they do best: run, wag and play.