Having just read Kristine Ganes’ letter to the Reporter about “frolicking Pioneer park dogs causing damage to property,” I sit here incredulous that one would knowingly purchase a home adjacent to a known off-leash dog park and not take the simple, less expensive than a vet bill measure, to install a fence.

I suppose it’s much easier to complain rather than take some personal responsibility. Were I to move next to the airport and complain about the noise, or to Queen Anne and complain about the lack of parking in my neighborhood, you’d surely think I would have known what I was getting in to.

I walk daily in the park with my two dogs, and find the majority of dog owners we meet along the way to be friendly, responsible and respectful. We walk in the park not merely so that Fido can get the wiggles out, we walk for our health.

The dog walkers in Pioneer Park are not a “tiny minority,” and personally I don’t think we ruin it for anybody. Well, there is the jogger who told me she is deathly afraid of dogs but jogs there because “where else can I jog on the Island?” There’s that personal responsibility thing again.

Officer Ormsby is indeed wonderful; we have worked with her on two occasions when our older dog was severely attacked by a roaming dog while we were walking, leashed, in our neighborhood. It would surprise me if she didn’t suggest a small fence might just solve the problem. Please, don’t allow your narrow attitude to ruin it for everybody.

As to the beautiful Luther Burbank off leash area, it’s just great if you like crowded conditions and aggressive dogs, and don’t mind your dog going in the water each and every day, and don’t consider your exercise a priority.

But I do, and will continue to walk my happy, friendly, frolicking dogs in the park every day — no matter what side of the law this eventually comes down on.

And if they go crashing into your yard chasing a squirrel at breakneck speed, my sincere apologies, but hey, get real and build a little fence. It’s pretty much a no-brainer.

Holly Levin

Mercer Island