Self-professed “dog mom” Sarah Gabura would bring her five-year-old cavapoo, Rosie, with her everywhere if she could.
A health care worker who lives in a King West condo, Gabura feels guilty for the hours the pair spend apart while she’s at the hospital. When she sees friends, runs errands or goes on a date after work or on weekends, she plans it so Rosie can come too. In her perfect world, aside from health care settings, “dogs would be allowed anywhere that humans are allowed.”
But not everyone in Toronto shares that view, and it’s leading to rising canine-human hostility. “It’s the deep sighs or the snide comments under their breath as they walk past you. And it makes me really upset,” said Gabura, noting that Rosie, who looks like a “tiny teddy bear,” is very well-behaved. “You genuinely forget that she is there. I have a hard time understanding why that would bother someone.”
But browse any neighbourhood Facebook group, and you’ll find simmering human vs. dog tension in this growing, space-starved metropolis.
“The overwhelming number of dogs in this city has destroyed most of the grass and especially the trees,” commented one person on a Facebook post about leashing by Northly Toronto, adding that their local park smells so strongly of urine, it’s “hard to walk by.” A post in the AskTO sub-Reddit asked, “What’s with dogs being everywhere now, inside and out?” One response read, “My fave is going to a playground surrounded by ‘No Dogs’ signs, through a gate that said ‘No Dogs,’ and seeing someone’s dog pissing in the sand my kid plays on.”
The tension isn’t limited to the streets: Like Gabura, many pet owners live in condos, and between building bylaws that specify breed and size restrictions, neighbours who refuse to share an elevator with Fido and a lack of adjacent dog parks, these communal living spaces can be anti-pooch pressure cookers.
The changing face of dog ownership
The city is “aware” of an increase in the number of dogs since the pandemic, said City of Toronto senior communications adviser Naomi Ahmad. Toronto is home to 47,000 officially licensed dogs, but a 2025 city estimate put the actual number at 600,000 or more.
“Dog ownership has increased a lot, and the way that people are treating their dogs has changed,” observed Oakville native Dylan Munro, who is based in New York City now but recently spent time in Toronto researching the pet-owner market to launch “human-grade” pet food delivery service, Spot & Tango. “Younger people are delaying having kids, and they’re treating their dogs like kids.”
Dog owners have to read the room, said five-year-old golden Aussie Roo’s owner Shara Brown. “Your dog doesn’t need to be sitting on your lap at the table while we’re eating dinner,” she said.
Brown, a movement and wellness coach, lives near Sorauren Park, where there’s been conflict between dog owners who let their pets roam free on the soccer field and the families who play there. “If you can tell there’s a kid that doesn’t feel comfortable, leash your dog up or remove them from the area. Be mindful of who’s around.”
Safety first
There have been serious incidents in parks and schools, like the 14-year-old boy bitten in the face by an off-leash dog at Rawlinson Community School in the west end in 2023, and a nine-year-old mauled in Ferrand Drive Park near Eglinton and the DVP in 2025.
In response to these kinds of incidents, the city created a Dangerous Dog registry in 2024, bylaw officers patrol parks, and bus shelters and Facebook feeds have been plastered with posters addressing the issue. An early tag line was, “Remember not everybody loves her,” and more recently, “All dogs must be leashed in public. No excuses,” and “My dog is friendly: No”
“Dog owners can help prevent incidents by always keeping their dogs leashed and under control in public, and encouraging others to do the same,” said Ahmad.
But dogs need to run, and many dog owners feel there aren’t enough areas for that. “The city needs to step in and understand that there’s a demand for a certain type of space that’s not being met,” said Brown.
The city has plans to add 13 more off-leash areas over the next two years, bringing the total to 94 across 23 wards.
“I know what it’s like to want to take my dog to an off-leash area, and I also know what it’s like to have a strange dog run at my son,” said Mimico resident Eric Code, who has a black Labrador retriever and a six-year-old child. He’s a member of the 5,700-strong Toronto Dog Park Community, a grassroots effort to get the city to create an off-leash master plan.
“The main goal of our group is to develop places where people and dogs can enjoy our precious green spaces in harmony,” he said. “There is tension — but without proper planning there would be more tension.”
Their pressure helped result in a dog strategy released last September. It’s a positive step in the right direction, said Code, but there’s “room for improvement” when it comes to by-law enforcement, which is “critical” in places like schoolyards.
The need for good behaviour
Andre Yeu has been a dog trainer for 16 years, and said the number of complaints he hears about dog behaviour has never been higher. “Toronto has become a dog city, but it hasn’t necessarily figured out how to become a dog-savvy city,” said the founder of When Hounds Fly.
He noted that less than 10 per cent of dog owners invest in puppy classes or any formal training. “As the total population of dogs increases, the total number of dogs that don’t have the required skills to cope and live in harmony with the neighbours is increasing,” said Yeu. He’d love to see Toronto emulate parts of Europe where all dog owners are required to take classes.
As the owner of a seven-year-old, one-eyed rescue American bulldog mix named Mikey, Yeu understands the growing humanization of pets; when he became a dog owner for the first time, he felt a love he’d never experienced before. “When you have that unconditional obsession with your dog, you might become biased and not recognize that barking is annoying, or that dogs rushing up to people without permission is scary for a lot of people,” he said. “Fifteen years ago, you had a dog, you left it in the yard. The idea of bringing your dog to watch your kid’s soccer game would probably not have occurred to people. Now, it’s like, ‘Of course, we’d bring our dog.’”
Problems arise when people bring their dogs to difficult environments but don’t equip them for it. “That’s when these dogs stop being the ones you don’t notice, and they’re in the face of people, infringing on their right to be left alone,” he said. “If that dog is properly trained, you shouldn’t even know it’s there.”
The urge to leave the city
Tobi, a five-year-old Pembrooke Welsh corgi, loves wandering the shops of Yorkville and checking out new cafes. Sometimes, she’s not welcomed. “I’ll hear someone mutter under their breath, ‘Why do you have to bring your dog everywhere?’” said her owner, Belicia Chung, a TikTok creator who documents their city life together. “But I know Tobi isn’t doing anything particularly bothersome and is happily browsing the shelves with me, so I let it go.”
Chung daydreams about having more green space with grass for Tobi to roll in. “My husband and I would love to buy a house with plenty of backyard space for her, but we may have to sacrifice by moving out of the city to afford that,” she said.
Hudson, a fluffy corgi with over 390,000 TikTok followers, recently moved from a Toronto condo to a home in the GTA. Away from the city’s dense dog population, walks have become infinitely less fraught. “Hudson has been bitten by other dogs on-leash (in the city), and had off-leash dogs charge at him when he’s on-leash,” said his “aunt and manager,” Heather Kerrison. “It is really nice being able to go to a nature trail and not having to worry about unwanted interactions.”
How to improve dog-human relations
Those committed to city living have ideas for improvements that would benefit dogs and humans alike.
Gabura would like to see “well-trained” dogs allowed in spaces like grocery stores and restaurants, and more options for the snowy season. “Toronto winters can be tough, and it’s not always ideal for long walks, so having a safe indoor space for dogs to roam would make a big difference,” she said.
She’d also appreciate more condo amenities for the growing number of four-legged tenants. “I have a dog-bathing station in my building, which is really convenient, but pets still aren’t allowed in shared spaces like rooftops or party rooms,” said Gabura, who often talks about this with her 27,000 social media followers. “Including pet amenities is a huge perk — I get a lot of messages on TikTok about which buildings are the most pet-friendly.”
Munro thinks Toronto could learn from New York’s approach, which he feels has more dedicated areas for dogs, which means their owners “don’t feel as much pressure to take their dogs to places where it causes friction.” He pointed to the dog pond near his home in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park; Central Park alone has 23 off-leash areas. And some green spaces are shared: “There are off-leash hours at a lot of the big fields, before 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m.”
Code would like to see more large dog areas where you can actually walk off-leash. “When dogs are moving, they’re focusing on their owner, the new scents, the new things they’re discovering,” he said. “When you’re in a small dog park, dogs can swarm. It can become territorial.”
He’d also love to see more downtown dog parks created as part of new developments, designed thoughtfully with play structures and a mix of surface textures, not just wood chips or fake grass.
“Small dog parks in urban areas should be like little playgrounds for dogs,” Code said. “If an off-leash area is fun and exciting, people will choose to use it. If the off-leash area is just a small gravel pen, it won’t get the traction, and you’ll just have owners choosing to let their dogs off-leash in the grass areas. It’s not right, but it’s what happens.”
