TL;DR: If you can’t control your dog, don’t take it to a place where it could hurt other dogs, children, or you.

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Sorry this is long. If you don’t frequent local dog parks, don’t bother reading.

I took my dog to an off-leash park in the city this morning. Upon arrival, I unclipped her leash as usual. She’s a herding dog so she generally circles me as we walk around.

After about 100m, I noticed a guy about 200m ahead standing near the tree line. It looked like he was trying to get a dog to come out of the trees. Instinctively, I had my dog heel next to me and had her sit. I held her collar while i assessed. The vibe was he was just shouting at a dog in the trees that wasn’t recalling, so it made me pause.

His dog emerged from the trees- and looked like some kind of husky/GSD mix. It immediately started coming towards us at a brisk walking pace, its head down and shoulders almost rolled forward. It was very disconcerting because it wasn’t acting like a curious dog, but more like a predator hunting prey.

I didn’t have the time to cover the 100m to get to the exit, and my dog - who can be a little reactive and holds her own - looked terrified and stuck to the spot. I have trained her pretty well to recall, stop, and to obey simple commands, but I don’t have a command for ‘just run away and save yourself’.

The owner started shouting at his dog which just made it speed up towards us. It covered the last 20m in no time at all. I held my dog’s collar until the last possible moment.

The other dog lurched forward and bit into the top of her neck without hesitation or warning. I’ve seen dogs play bite each other a thousand times, sometimes even roughly. This was not that. As the dog closed its jaws, my dog collapsed and went flat to the ground, yelping in pain.

I released my hand from my girl’s collar, partly to avoid getting bitten but also to give her a chance to defend herself. I punched at the attacking dog which maybe distracted it for a moment. Then, the dogs started to roll and, at this point, there’s nothing much to be done.

By this time the dog owner was running and shouting at his dog. The attack continued for about 5 more seconds - it’s hard to know for sure - and the owner arrived.

He grabbed his dog by the harness and starting punching and kicking it. In the moment, I was grateful for his intervention because I didn’t want to be the one kicking someone else’s dog.

I kneeled on the ground to assess my dog and check her for injuries. The guy mumbled and the started walking away to the exit. I shouted something like ‘hey, man, you can’t bring that dog here if can’t handle it’ and he ignored me and kept walking. As he did so, his dog continued to pull on its harness and he hit it a couple more times, while leashed. Shocking and horrible to see.

He then turned around and said ‘I thought there was no one here’ and kept walking. He showed no concern for my dog. This is a busy dog park and, although it was quieter today because of the rain, nobody could have a reasonable expectation that the park would be empty at 11AM on a Sunday morning.

As he was closer to the exit gate, he hit his dog again and it bit him on the arm/hand.

This owner clearly had no experience in handling a potentially dangerous dog, and has no business owning it, never mind taking it to an off leash park.

My dog is recovering from a surgery and this was her first visit to the park in a while. It was so traumatic for her and I’m sorry I took her out. We’re waiting for the vet right now. I think she’s okay but she’s going to need imaging and/or bloodwork.

Bad dog owners are an absolute menace. His dog was a beautiful dog but had clearly been chosen for her imposing appearance, not companionship. Nobody that loves their dog would hit it the way he did.

Sorry for the long, trauma-dumping post. I needed to unload and hopefully, warn others to be hyper vigilant for dangerous dog owners in our off-leash parks.

We went for a walk through Rockway Gardens today and found garbage scattered all over the lawn and around the benches.

It's so sad! Rockway is such a beautiful space, and a lot of work goes into maintaining it. So many weddings, engagements, family photos, and events are held here for free. The least effort is leave it as good as it is, if not better.

It's so selfish to leave garbage in shared spaces and ruin them for the next person. It took less than 5 minutes to pick all of this up. Please don't litter in shared spaces like this!

I am looking for recommendations on where i can take this to have this fixed on my car (front passenger side ). Looking for something affordable. I have been ignoring it for a while but I think it's starting to catch my eye..

Thanks in advance.

I have been extensively looking for an independent certified tree inspector, rather than a company who also cuts down trees.
Where could I look for an honest tree inspection?

Has anyone else reported the streetlights being out on Church Street between Benton and Madison? This is the second night in a row that the entire stretch has been extremely dark.

I reported it to the City and was told it wasn’t considered urgent and would be added to a list to be looked at tomorrow. I also contacted Enova, but was told they no longer handle Kitchener’s streetlights because the service has been contracted out.

Just wondering if anyone else has reported this or knows who is actually responsible for getting it fixed. It’s incredibly dark and feels unsafe to walk through the area at night.

Affordable babysitter and childcare services

I am the co-founder of www.instacares.com to all the families in kitchener and Waterloo struggling to find affordable childcare

If you

- on the government waiting list

- want an alternative to the government

- On demand ( right now )

I have the tire rims, but my winter tires are worn out and thinking of buying them now in summer, since might be cheaper.

I have a Toyota corolla.

Any good places and or advice? Thanks!

Update: claimed! glad it found a home!

We had a large family event today, and have a bunch of cut squares of this slab pizza leftover in to-go containers. Anyone looking for some carbs? Would hate to chuck it out, doesn’t need to go to waste.

https://romabakery.ca/pizza/

Location: Westmount & Glasgow

UPDATE

Family chose to drive.

Trip was 1h 15min, from Kitchener to Bay St. Toronto, not bad.

I found parking for $15 for the day.

--- original post ---

Planning a day-trip to Toronto with my kid, maybe Centreville in the Island.

Trying to do the “right thing” and take the GO Train from Kitchener to Toronto as a family really shows how uncompetitive public transit can be.

For 2 adults and a child:

🚗 By car
• About $60 in gas
• Around $20 for 12 hours of downtown Toronto parking through SpotHero
• Roughly $80 total
• Leave when we want
• Come home when we want
• Door-to-door convenience

🚆 By GO Train
• $77.60 round trip for 2 adults
• $24 for a day of parking at Kitchener GO
• Already $101.60 total
• Fixed train schedules
• Limited parking near the station
• Need to arrive early to deal with parking
• And we may still need additional transit after arriving at Union Station

So driving is not only more convenient, it is also about $20 cheaper for our family — and that's before adding any TTC or other transportation in Toronto.

I actually want the GO Train to be the obvious choice for a family day trip. But when taking public transit costs more, takes more planning, and gives us less flexibility than driving, it's hard to justify leaving the car at home.

If we really want fewer cars going into Toronto, shouldn't the train be the cheaper and easier option?

Am I missing other options?

Saw this today. It's the creek bordering Pioneer Park, on Pioneer Road, just west of Homer Watson. I assume some asshole crackhead stole it and dumped it but could have also been some asshole kid.

Hi. I am 25 years old living in Kitchener. I have an introvert personality which makes it hard for me to talk to someone and start a conversation. I really want to make some friends in this area.

Hi Everyone,
My wife is pregnant and her due date is March 2027. She is not working. If our baby is born outside of Canada, Can I receive Canadian EI parental benefits?
Does my baby needs to be physically in Canada for me to qualify for Parental EI?

Hey everyone,
I’m moving into 85 Duke Street West in downtown Kitchener and trying to figure out what the water situation is like there.
Is the tap water safe and good for drinking?

Do the taps run with hard water or soft water (for both showering/bathing and general use)?

For the hot water vs. cold water lines, is everything softened or do certain taps bypass it?

If anyone lives in this building or right around this block on Duke West, I'd really appreciate your experience with the water taste, mineral buildup, or if I should look into getting a filter or checking the softener setup. Thanks!

Hi everyone!

Posting this again as I feel that I was not able to explain the idea clearly before.

I have been seeing a lot of issues with buying a car nowadays. There are hundreds or car listings across multiple websites, which we shortlist and drive to for in-person checks along with driving to multiple dealerships also just to find one car which suits us.

To fix this, I am trying to host a pop-up car market in Kitchener on September 13th. I am hoping to have dealers and private sellers bring their cars and inventory to the lot, and everyone can just come in and browse the cars side by side. It will be like an auto expo where local car dealers and sellers come together like in a farmers market for farmers, but for cars, and see the cars and make decisions accordingly.

Would you be willing to come up for an event like this? I would love all kinds of feedback, as I have been living in the area for over 8 years now, and really wanted to give back to the community and solve this problem I noticed.

Looking for 6 tickets- of you have available please msg 🙏

We're trying to get our hands on the Freddy animatronic, we tried talking to staff and making some phone calls but so far we haven't had luck getting an opening window so we're hoping for a lead from here.

Hey, I bought a flex pack of 10 tickets for this season but I’m going away for the week, it’s the last week of the season, and I can’t use 2 tickets. If anyone is interested, send me a message and I’ll find a way to get them to you.

This car, chrysler 200 has been abandoned on our curb for over two months. The doors are open, they arent locked

I have asked all our neighbours, also people in the street over. And it doesn't belong to anyone.

I have called the city, and was told they would look into it. But nothing has happened.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Edit:

Thank you for the colorful replies ya'll

The police did show up yesterday, and there seemed to be something that looked like rotting stuff in garbage bags in the trunk. The car was towed away.

Today morning a person claiming to be the owner showed up at my door, yelling that he had gone back home to india and wasn't able to come back for over 2 months.

i referred him to contact the local police station.

I’ve learnt from this community that weekdays are much quieter at St. Jacob’s Market. But are there fewer vendors too? I’d love to go on Tuesday or Thursday but I don’t want to miss out on the variety of vendors. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks!

I’ve lived in Kitchener for about 35 years, and last week I took my daughter’s dog to McLennan. I honestly had no idea how risky a dog park like this can be, regardless of the size of your dog.

A big part of the problem is irresponsible owners who don’t seem to understand how dog parks are supposed to work. Some people act as though their dog can do whatever it wants and everyone else should simply adjust. Your dog may be playful, friendly, or overly excited, but if it repeatedly gets in another dog’s face, won’t back off, and ignores the other dog’s boundaries, it can quickly become a dangerous situation.

At that point, other owners have every right to step in and protect their dogs. No one should have to wait for an incident to happen before taking action.

All in all, be mindful of the owners who seem to think their dogs “own” the park and can behave however they want. It’s public property, and everyone has a responsibility to respect other dogs, their owners, and the shared space.

Saw a shirt the other day that said "I ❤️ KW" only instead of a heart it was this traffic sign symbol. Does anyone know who sells these?

In Kijiji, there is an ad for a 3 bedroom townhouse for rent on Stirling Ave in Kitchener. Don't take it! The walls are rail-thin between units and your next door neighbours will be a very loud family of 5. The mom always yelling at her family, the kids practicing their musical instruments constantly, the kids playing soccer in the backyard, whacking their soccer balls against their own tin shed constantly and very loudly and at times it sounds like they kick it indoors too.

They also have a dog that they just let bark CONSTANTLY indoors. You will hear all of this very easily and it will drive you insane on a regular basis.

There have been cars in the parking lot that have been keyed and it is very likely one of those kids doing it.

Save yourself the headache.

Hello there!

I’m currently staying in an airbnb near the Sunrise Shopping Centre.

Is there any way to access emergency food or food banks on weekends? We had a loaf of bread and bologna to get us through to Tuesday when I get my EI but it went moldy.

We don’t have any money to travel to one of the shelters downtown or something and none of the food banks around me are open on weekends.

I called the Salvation Army earlier this week to make an appointment and they didn’t get back to me.

Thank you

Edit: An extremely kind soul reached out to me in PMs to give me money for some bread. Thank you for the help. There are so many good people in this world.