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Wednesday, July 17, 2002

No Dogs Allowed" signs abound in many parks and playgrounds. They are the bane of dog lovers trying to give their dogs the exercise they love and need. I'm holding my breath, afraid the dreaded NDAs will show up in a relatively new venue that dog-walkers have embraced with glee.

I'm talking about the rails-to-trails that are being completed with ever-increasing speed. The Bethel Park and Peters sections of the Montour Trail and the Boston section of the Yough River Trail are especially popular, even on weekdays.

The trails get a lot of traffic from bicyclists, joggers and walkers. Some walkers push strollers with babies on board. Sometimes groups of moms stroll the trails with multiple pre-schoolers toddling along the paths. Some walkers have dogs on leashes.

And it's a good thing, seeing these trails develop into true multiuse recreation venues.

I hear an increasing number of complaints about dog owners who think trails are a great place to unsnap the leash and let dogs run free. It's a bad idea, for many reasons.

Pennsylvania and most municipalities have laws prohibiting dogs running off-leash.

Running dogs can be hit by speeding bikes. Bike riders may crash and fall trying to avoid hitting dogs. Children can be frightened or even bitten.

Then there's the pooper-scooper issue. Trail officials and volunteers complain that people do not clean up after their dogs.

On a recent bike ride on the Boston trail in Elizabeth Township, a bike rider whose home is on the trail told me people let their dogs run loose. The dogs poop on the trail and in beautifully tended back yards along the trail. He's urging local officials to ban dogs from the trail.

On that particular day, I saw one small pile of dog feces on the trail. While that, to me, does not constitute a huge problem, many people have zero tolerance for dog feces. The specter of dog doo has banned many a dog from many a venue.

If you see someone running dogs on the trail, tell him or her why this is a bad idea. Try to be nice about it. Keep extra cleanup bags in your pockets or backpacks and offer them to people whose dogs are doing what dogs do.

If they resist and resent your suggestions -- and ignorant people often do -- report them to authorities. They're going to ruin things for good dogs on leashes and their responsible owners.

Many people carry cell phones on the trail just in case there's an accident. Those phones can be used to call police about lawbreakers. Or report them in person to the bicycle-mounted police officers who patrol parts of the trail.

While we're on the subject of trail etiquette, bike riders complain about walkers who clothesline -- taking up the entire trail by walking three or four or five abreast.

Everyone's supposed to travel on the right side of the trail. Bikers who want to pass walkers or slow-moving bikers are supposed to call out "passing on the left." Some walkers ignore that request or, worse yet, move to the left.

Some very young bike riders zigzag along the trail instead of staying to the right. I've seen near collisions as enviably fit long-distance riders zoom along at high speed.

Which brings up one last point: Busy and popular portions of the trail -- including Bethel Park, Boston, Ohiopyle and Confluence -- are not safe places for high-speed biking.

The medium-sized dog -- white with lots of tan freckles -- trudged very slowly along the hot sidewalk. She traveled north on Route 19 near the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon border.

I was driving south in late afternoon rush-hour traffic, which means my car barely moved. That's why I had time to notice a dog on a hot sidewalk, which has been a recent Pet Tales topic of concern.

The dog's leash was dragging along the sidewalk. Where was her owner?

About five or six yards behind the dog was a silver-haired woman, leaning heavily on a wheeled walker. She was moving even more slowly than the dog. A small shopping bag dangled from the top bar of the walker. The dog stopped walking, looked over her shoulder, made eye contact with the woman and wagged her tail. The woman smiled. The dog swiveled her head back to the forward position and continued her march.

The traffic light turned green. As I stepped on the gas pedal, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the dog once again stop, turn her head and wag her tail at the woman.

There were no empty parking spaces along West Liberty Avenue/Washington Road, so I couldn't pull over to offer them a ride. I could only hope they were almost home.

There are a lot of apartment buildings along that stretch of road, and I'm guessing they live in one of those buildings. The woman and the dog clearly bring each other a lot of happiness. I'm glad they found a pet-friendly dwelling.