(Image credit: Kamloops Regional Farmers Market).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Regional farmers’ market should be declared a dog-free zone

Jun 9, 2022 | 4:48 AM

DOGS BRING MUCH JOY to our lives. I’ve had dogs my whole life, and the times between dogs have always been less happy than the times with dogs.

But just as we love our children and other people’s children considerably less, we aren’t always crazy about other people’s dogs. This is certainly the case when it comes to the Kamloops Regional Farmers’ Market.

The mid-week downtown market isn’t a big problem but the Saturday market in front of Stuart Wood School often looks more like a dog show than it does a place to buy fresh produce.

For some reason, people love to bring their dogs. Small dogs, big dogs, all kinds of dogs. To the owners, each and every one of them is adorable; to everyone else, not so much.

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I came across an innocent-enough post from the farmers’ market this week very politely asking folks to keep their dogs on a short leash, clean up after them and general observe good manners. The request prompted a great many comments, the majority of them complaining about dogs at the market.

“Last weekend I counted 75 dogs in that area (not all at the same time),” wrote one resident, adding they should be banned “for several reasons, one being that at least three vendors have had dogs lift their legs to pee on their display.”

Another wrote, “I have had a dog wrap its leash around my legs and the owner just laughed and expected me to join in her merriment about how playful her dog is.”

A parent joined in: “It’s awful for a little one holding mom’s hand and her face is at the level of a strange dog’s behind.”

One defender doggedly insisted that, since dogs are allowed on public streets, the farmers’ market shouldn’t be an exception.

Sorry, but yes it should. The farmers’ market isn’t a dog park. It should be a dog-free, pee-free zone.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.