The scoop on Chumash Park

I read with interest the letter from Traci Craig regarding dogs "running amok" in Chumash Park, and her heads-up to parents that their children are running through dog feces when they play at the park.

Ms. Craig has made the leap that off-leash dogs are dangerous and unsafe and that their owners are not picking up their feces. She also mentions that the dogs are running loose on the road.

I take my dogs to Chumash Park often on leash, and I have never once seen a dangerous or unsafe dog off leash, nor have I observed a single incident where a dog defecated and his/her owner did not pick it up.

Even at designated off-leash dog parks like the one in Thousand Oaks, owners are expected to pick up after their dogs. People who obey this rule will do so whether the dog is leashed or not.

I think most owners know their own dog's temperament and would not have a dog running loose if the animal posed a threat to children playing in the park. And no owner who loves his or her dog would carelessly let the dog run in the street.

Finally, Ms. Craig is perpetuating breed prejudice by mentioning a Doberman and a Rottweiler as if they are a threat simply because of their breed.

Many times when I've taken my dogs to Chumash Park, we have been the only humans and the only animals in the entire park. I have thought several times about what a shame it is that more people don't give their dogs or their children a chance to play in such a beautifully maintained park.

As to children getting diseases from the feces, dogs are the only animals in that park that are likely to be inoculated against transmittable diseases and worms, whereas the squirrels, rabbits, mice, rats, insects and birds present in the park and the trees are not vaccinated, nor does anyone pick up their feces. Lois Koch Agoura Hills