YOUR SAY: I am a dog walker and I keep my little dogs on a lead because they are rescue dogs and larger dogs upset them and frighten them.

Recently I was walking my dogs on the path that boarders the off-leash and on-leash area of Lehman Park.

I was accosted by five medium to large dogs all off-leash all at once. Not one owner came up to grab their dogs. They just stood back and tried to call their dogs.

Meanwhile I stood there trying to shoo the dogs away while feeling very threatened because my dogs were being intimidated.

As I called out and said this is not an off-leash area (the path) the other owners said to me "don't walk your dogs here."

This is not the first time that dog owners have just let their dogs roam into the on-leash area and failed to grab their dogs.

I feel very threatened and upset that just because my dogs don't walk off-leash I am being told by the off-leash walkers to take my dogs else where.

Meanwhile in the playground area of the park, which is not off-leash, people seem to feel it's ok to have their dogs off-leash around children playing and not keep an eye on their dogs.

If the council is going to have off-leash areas that are not fenced they need to significantly increase signage and markers of where on and off-leash areas start and finish and increase patrols.

Why should I feel intimidated while walking my dogs?

Yes, your dog may be friendly but my dogs are skittish and have not had friendly encounters with "friendly dogs" to a point where I have ended up at the vet from an attack.

I am not against these parks but I am against those who fail to control their dogs when off-leash, do not respect or are not educated about where the off-leash and on-leash areas start and stop and do not respect said dog's "personal space".

Dogs need to feel comfortable when being introduced to each other.

It's sad to say that I feel very frighted and threatened both by off-leash dogs and their owners that I feel I am not welcome nor allowed to use the park because we walk with a leash on the path.

The parks are their for us all to enjoy. It's about mutual respect but this is lacking among the dog owner community.

JESSICA RYDER, Rangeville