The dog owners of Muscatine, Iowa would largely benefit from the city building a dog park. However, concerned city residents worry that building a dog park will disrupt the peace in the city and be too costly for taxpayers to fund. All residents of the city should be aware of the crucial benefits the dog park would provide to the canines living in Muscatine. Dogs that live in cities rarely get enough exercise. City residents in rental housing make up 68% of the population, and over a fourth of those people live in apartment buildings with little to no yard space. Also, it is against city law to let your dog off its leash on public property. These factors make it almost impossible to get your dog the proper amount of exercise, which is vital to a dog 's mental and physical health. The ASPCA has said that dogs that do not get the required amount of exercise have behavioral issues such as barking and destroying things within their homes. A dog park would prevent this from occuring by providing dogs with the proper amount of exercise among other things. …show more content…
An unsocialized dog is much more likely to attack another dog or even human. In New York City, they started allowing dogs off-leash in dog parks and saw a dramatic decrease in dog-bites per year. Before allowing dogs off-leash they saw as many as 40,000 bites per year, and after allowing dogs this freedom, those numbers decreased to as little as 4,000. Building a dog park would also aid in keeping dogs out of shelters. Over 2 million dogs end up at U.S animal shelters every year. Poor behavior from dogs being lonely and/or not getting enough exercise is a prominent reason for owners surrendering their dogs to shelters. In 2013, a study was executed that showed that 65% of owners who left their dogs at shelters said it was because of their dog 's bad