Three Things to Know
Dog parks, which emerged in the U.S. due to leash laws, are gaining popularity internationally. The author explores their expansion in Poland, revealing the complex realities, meanings, and activism associated with them.
In Poland, dog parks experienced rapid growth between 2015 and 2020, particularly in urban areas. With leash laws rarely enforced, these spaces instead served as symbols of civilization, cleanliness, and progress, reflecting the nation’s aspiration to “catch up with the West”.
Dog guardians expressed a desire to meet their pets’ emotional and social needs, with some even describing a shared experience that blurs the line between human and non-human needs. This view, however, often faces opposition from critics who see dogs and their guardians as a nuisance, and even perceive dog parks as unwelcome symbols of Westernization or misguided modernization.
For Dog Welfare Practitioners
This study underscores that dog welfare issues are rarely isolated; they’re deeply intertwined with local culture. For instance, not country embraces dog parks. The author notes the UK Kennel Club views them as symbols of repression, preferring dogs have off-leash access in public spaces rather than small, enclosed areas that could increase dog-to-dog conflicts. This highlights that no single global solution exists for improving dog welfare. While learning from international experiences is valuable, it’s crucial to consider the local context during implementation, as human perspectives often play as significant a role as the dogs’ well-being.
The Full Picture
Ethologist Marc Bekoff celebrates dog parks as spaces where dogs can freely express natural behaviors, highlighting their value for studying canine social interactions. In contrast, animal geographers have typically analyzed dog parks as “animal spaces” shaped by human interests, focusing on broader social dynamics like gentrification and neoliberalism rather than canine agency. However, these studies often overlook dogs as active participants, seeing them instead as passive subjects within human-driven urban planning.
This study, titled “‘My dog and I, we need the park’: more-than-human agency and the emergence of dog parks in Poland, 2015–2020, explores the evolving understanding of dog parks through the lens of both ethology and animal geography. The author proposes reframing dog parks not merely as human-controlled spaces but as co-created environments shaped by the shared needs and actions of human-canine dyads. This approach aims to decenter the human and acknowledge the complex, context-dependent interplay of species in urban settings.
Study Methods
The study combines cultural analysis with the author’s practical experience as a dog trainer and behaviorist to explore the social and political dimensions of dog parks in Poland. The primary data source is Polish local media (2015–2020), including articles and reader comments, which reflect public discourse around the creation of dog parks.
Study Results
Dog Parks Outside of Poland
Dog parks originated in the United States in response to increasing leash laws and have since spread globally, though they remain culturally and politically specific. In the U.S., dog parks emerged through grassroots activism by dog guardians seeking off-leash spaces, while in places like the UK, the model is often resisted, seen as restrictive and unnecessary due to broader off-leash access in public spaces. In contrast, many Western European, Asian, and Oceanian countries have recently begun introducing dog parks, typically without civic activism, and often as a supplement to existing dog-friendly spaces. This global diffusion of the dog park model highlights broader processes of globalization and cultural “Americanization”.
Dog Parks in Poland
Poland, undergoing rapid post-communist transition and capitalist globalization, offers a unique lens for analyzing how global pet culture interacts with local histories, values, and urban development.
Dog parks in Poland began appearing in 2007, with rapid growth between 2015–2020, especially in cities like Warsaw, Krakow, and Toruń. Unlike the U.S., where dog parks emerged as a response to strict leash laws, Poland’s surge in dog parks is less about restricted off-leash access (which is poorly enforced) and more about symbolic alignment with Western modernity. Polish media portrayed dog parks as markers of civilization, cleanliness, and progress — mirroring the country’s desire to “catch up with the West”. However, this association also fuels cultural debates about globalization and national identity.
The material expansion of dog parks was made possible by the rise of participatory budgeting, a process allowing residents to vote on local projects. Dog parks consistently rank as popular initiatives, supported by both dog guardians and local governments as a way to manage public complaints (especially about dog waste) and separate dog activity from other park users.
Dog parks in Poland differ from their American counterparts: they often include agility-style equipment, reflecting an emphasis on active human-canine engagement rather than passive canine socialization. Official narratives promote these parks as spaces for training and bonding, even though field observations suggest the dogs rarely used the equipment as intended. This focus on training may serve to legitimize dog parks by framing them as tools for producing well-behaved pets, rather than simply spaces of canine enjoyment — suggesting a subtle discomfort with publicly expressing the desire to fulfill dogs’ emotional needs. Ultimately, intersecting forces of modernization, civic engagement, human-animal bonding, and cultural politics shape Polish dog parks.
Dog Park Activism in Poland
While official narratives justify dog parks through practical benefits like hygiene and dog obedience, many dog guardians speak openly in local media about their desire to fulfill their dogs’ emotional and social needs. Guardians frequently describe their dogs’ happiness, enjoyment, and desire for social interaction as motivations for visiting or advocating for dog parks. Notably, some guardians use the plural form (“we,” “us”) to refer to themselves and their dogs, suggesting a shared experience and emotional bond that blurs the boundary between human and non-human needs.
This merging of identities is reflected in the popular term psiarz (dog person), which symbolizes a human-canine identity and serves as a political and social category. Psiarze often express their needs in terms of civil rights and social inclusion, positioning themselves against other groups like parents or seniors in debates over urban space. Their advocacy for dog parks is not just about pet care, but about gaining recognition and space in a modern, pluralistic city.
However, this identity can be exclusionary and contested. While large cities like Warsaw are supportive of dog parks, smaller towns have seen growing opposition. Critics often frame dogs and their guardians as sources of nuisance, and even see dog parks as unwelcome symbols of Westernization or misplaced modernization. In some cases, despite public support through participatory budgets, local authorities have canceled dog park projects due to vocal opposition, revealing deeper cultural tensions around space, modernization, and human-animal relations in post-socialist Poland.
Conclusion
Dog parks are viewed as “beastly places” both positively (as sites of canine joy) and negatively (as unnecessary indulgences). In post-socialist Poland, dog parks are embraced by psiarze (dog lovers) as spaces reflecting genuine concern for dogs’ social and emotional needs. While dogs don’t consciously shape park activism, their presence and needs co-shape it through what is termed more-than-human agency — a shared, negotiated dynamic between humans and dogs. However, cultural context shapes how people interpret canine needs: in Poland, fenced parks symbolize progress and recognition of the human-dog bond, while in Britain, they may represent constraint and overregulation.
The author stresses that understanding global dog park trends requires examining both the evolving human-dog relationship and its cultural framing. Simply translating dogs’ needs is inadequate without considering the broader social and historical backdrop. Finally, the author calls for bridging ethological and social science perspectives — moving beyond the divide between “animal spaces” and “beastly places” — to create environments that genuinely serve multispecies communities and improve animal welfare.
Miscellaneous
Data From Study:
–
Year of Publication:
2021
External Link:
Włodarczyk, J. (2021). “My dog and I, we need the park”: more-than-human agency and the emergence of dog parks in Poland, 2015–2020. Cultural Geographies, 28(3), 495-511. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474020987249