Do Dogs go to Heaven?

From an unknown source, in one of those forwarded emails:




A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.
When he was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?'

'This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered. 'Wow! Would you happen to have some water?' the man asked.

Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up.'The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

'Can my friend,' gesturing toward his dog, 'come in, too?' the traveler asked.

'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.

As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

'Excuse me!' he called to the man. 'Do you have any water?'

'Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in.'

'How about my friend here?' the traveler gestured to the dog.

'There should be a bowl by the pump.'

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree

'What do you call this place?' the traveler asked.

'This is Heaven,' he answered.

'Well, that's confusing,' the traveler said. 'The man down the road said that was Heaven, too..'

'Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell.'

'Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?'

'No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.'

Off Leash Meeting Notes

This past week there was a public meeting held to explain and discuss the process for Off-Leash Park applications. Generally most of the information is posted on the City of Toronto website, and is well explained. In attendance was approximately 30 residents of the area, a few representatives of Leash Free Mississauga, and of course the city staff holding the meeting.

One of the few points that are not readily available on the Toronto website that I gained from the meeting is;
- most if not all Leash Free sites will be fenced by the city. As well any benches, garbage containers, and other features are part of the city budget.
- a design process will be entered after the site has been fully approved and vetted. This will be with some consultation of the applicant group.
- a community group can make multiple applications for multiple parks/sites. Each must be submitted separately.

As well;
- Our site is still being processed, but all things moving well we can hope to hear from the city in November.
- There is also a very new application for Marie Curtis park (that I believe we should collectively support)

Lets hope that things move quickly and we can have a leash free park before the winter!

What a Handsome Pair!

Richie and Len make a handsome pair and are two of our newest members. I can see that Richie likes a good long run, and he hopefully will have a chance in our new leash free park (upon approval).

Hope to see you both soon!

Off Leash Meeting with City Parks Staff

It has come to my attention that there will be an Off-leash meeting with City Parks Staff, arranged by Councillor Grimes, this Wednesday Sept 16 from 6:30-8:30pm. Unfortunately I was not contacted or informed of it , and have to work till 9pm that night.

I implore any and all available members to go out to the meeting and be heard. It is especially important that we have a profile at these meetings, and remember be courteous and open to all ideas.

City Strike is Over

By now everyone is aware the city strike is over. We were blessed to still have garbage collection here in Etobicoke, but other city services were not available while the strike continued. That included the processing of our Leash Free Park application.

Now that the city workers are back at work, hopefully we will see our application processed, but that may mean an even longer wait. We have to be patient and time will see the fruit of our labours. In the mean time, let's continue to recruit new members. As the summer holidays are coming to a close and we are all back in the city, we hope to see more members join up.

Remember to tell your friends and neighbours to sign on to the website.

Another New Member!

Hello Otto!
Glad to have you. You look like the frisky type so I am sure a leash free area for you to jump and play in are on top of your list. Be sure to bring you buddy- Sandra- along when you can!

Hope to see you soon.

City Update

As you all know by now- the outside city workers are on strike. Because the branch we are dealing with about the Leash-Free park are part of the Parks Department we can expect a longer delay regarding our application.

The good news is we are steadily gaining more and more new members. I encourage you to keep up the great work on spreading the word and recruiting members. We are fast approaching 50 strong, and would like to see the number top 100 by the time we meet with the City.

A last note- The bylaw enforcement workers are not on strike. You can still be ticketed for walking off leash in the park.


And one more thing- a car is hot in the summer. Even with windows open it can easily get too hot for our furry friends. Please leave the pups at home if you can't take them in the store with you.

Have a great summer.