CELPIP Listening Part 6 Practice Test: Dogs Off the Leash

NARRATOR: On any sunny weekend morning, the same scene plays out in parks across the country: a golden retriever bounding joyfully across the grass, its owner strolling behind with a leash dangling uselessly from one hand. To some, this is a picture of contentment. To others, it is a quiet violation of a bylaw that most cities have on their books but rarely enforce. As municipalities review their park rules, the question of whether dogs should be allowed to run freely has become remarkably divisive.

NARRATOR: Animal behaviourist Dr. Priya Raman argues that off-leash time is not an indulgence but a necessity. Dogs confined to apartments and short sidewalk walks, she explains, build up energy that frequently surfaces as barking, chewing or aggression at home. In her experience, a dog that runs freely for half an hour each day is calmer, better socialized and, paradoxically, less likely to bite. Raman also contends that fenced dog parks, the usual compromise, tend to be overcrowded, muddy and located on the edge of town, which hardly helps an owner without a car. She adds that a brief, polite sniff between strange dogs on an open field teaches them more about good manners than any obedience class could.

NARRATOR: Gordon Ashby, who coaches youth soccer and chairs a neighbourhood park association, sees things rather differently. He doesn't dispute that dogs need exercise, but he maintains that shared spaces must work for everyone, including toddlers, cyclists and people who are genuinely frightened of animals. Ashby describes Saturday practices interrupted by dogs chasing the ball, and parents spending the first ten minutes checking the field for droppings. Every owner, he remarks, swears that their dog is friendly, but a seven-year-old chasing a soccer ball has no way of telling which owners are right.

NARRATOR: Raman counters that the trouble lies with a careless minority of owners rather than with dogs themselves, and that designated off-leash hours, say, early mornings before seven, would let both groups share the same ground. Ashby remains thoroughly unconvinced, and he is hardly alone among parents. Rules that already go unenforced, he argues, will hardly be respected simply because they come with a timetable.

NARRATOR: Perhaps the real lesson is that a park is a negotiation rather than a possession. Neither the dog owner nor the soccer coach owns the grass, and any lasting solution will depend less on new bylaws than on ordinary courtesy.