Thousands of Suffolk County residents who own dogs and enjoy sharing the great outdoors with their canine companions may soon be denied access to the county's 42,000 acres of parkland.
      Our group of Huntington dog owners has been working with the Suffolk County Department of Parks to improve access to parkland for dogs and their owners, but in researching our request to upgrade and expand the two existing dog runs on County parkland, the Parks Department discovered that under a provision of the Suffolk County Code, dogs are not allowed on County land unless they are on a leash "not more than 6 ft. in length" at all times.
      What that means is that the two dog runs that were established at West Hills Park in May 1998 and Coindre Hall in May 1999 are essentially illegal. Countless residents who now enjoy these parks with their dogs may have to give up this privilege. More importantly, when the problem with this existing law was discussed at a recent Suffolk County Parks Committee meeting, some Legislators subsequently remarked it might be best to eliminate dogs from county parks altogether.
      This would be completely unfair to the hundreds of thousands of Suffolk County

residents who own dogs and pay millions of dollars a year in taxes to help maintain the County's 20 parks. These families have as much right to enjoy a portion of Suffolk County parkland as do residents who use the parks for hiking, biking, golfing, horseback riding, or any of the other numerous activities for which the County has set aside land. 
      The prospect of living in a County with abundant open land and restrictive laws that would not permit almost half the population to share this open space with their dogs seems unbelievable. By contrast, Nassau County, which has just 5,600 acres of parkland, has five dog runs in operation today. Ironically, the Parks Department's own website currently proclaims, "Pets are Welcome at Suffolk County Parks!"
      Just as important is what access to parks and the establishment of dog runs mean for our pets. The world has changed enormously! Most people have jobs away from home and are forced to leave their dogs locked up for eight to 12 hours a day. Most of us don't live on large pieces of property, so that at day's end a walk around the block just isn't enough exercise.
      Yet, dogs need to run, play and socialize with other dogs. Anybody who has ever lived next door to a dog that was

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