We continue our look at how to visit and live in Zagreb with your pet.
As we’ve discussed in our previous text on how to keep pets in Zagreb, the key decision by Zagreb County is the Ordinance on manner and conditions for keeping the pets... That same Ordinance describes where in the City of Zagreb you are allowed to take your dog off-leash, and tells you that anywhere else within Zagreb dogs must be kept on-leash at all times.
Below you can see the map of those locations in Zagreb, made for you by the Total Zagreb team. The locations where it’s allowed to take your dogs off-leash, but that don’t have proper fences to protect your dogs are marked with a paw; dog-parks that are properly fenced, where your dogs can run and play with four-legged friends are marked with a fence-icon.
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The ordinance says that this map should exist somewhere within the zagreb.hr web-site; I've looked, but I haven't been able to find it.
As you can see, there are quite a few such locations in Zagreb, distributed rather nicely (around 70 of them, to be precise). Fenced dog-parks are fewer, and are far between, but still, you have options if you want to take your dog for an off-leash walk.
There are, however, caveats, especially regarding the areas where there’s no fence, but the dogs are allowed off-leash. Those are:
- Although the Ordinance states that those areas *can* be marked in some way, to show their purpose, I have never seen any sign ever, saying that off-leash dogs are allowed. Additionally, I don’t even think that such sign has ever been designed, so it could not have been put up. So, you really need to look for those places yourself, and be prepared to explain to non-pet-friends that yes, in fact, the City has determined in their Ordinance that your dog can be off-leash there.
- Almost none of those areas have any doggy-infrastructure. You know what I mean, trash can where responsible owners can dispose of what’s left after their pet has had his or her run, maybe some baggy-dispenser, call me crazy but a tap with some fresh water for summer days would be nice (admittedly, some of them are around water, so that would probably be an overkill) – none of that is present. As I was doing this map, I noticed that maybe a dozen have a trash-can, which is a normal communal trash can, and that should be a bare minimum. Most don’t even have that.
- Some of the areas designated for off-leash walks with dogs are insanely dangerous, and no responsible dog owner would ever EVER let their dog off-leash on them. Below is the screen-grab from Google maps of one of those, on the corner of Zagrebačka avenue and Rudeška street: narrow strip of grass and some trees (10 meters at most), between a restaurant building and an eight-lane road, with a pedestrian lane (combined with bike lane) next to it, with absolutely no protection for the dogs. I don’t see how anyone, literally anyone would come here, take their dog off-leash and let him/her enjoy themselves. The danger of them getting hurt is far too large.
- And as for “far too large”, some of those locations are ridiculously small. Below is the photo of one of those, in the eastern part of the city, as described in the ordinance (It clearly says “north of the trafo”). This is an insult to most Chihuahuas. This is smaller in surface than most fenced dog-parks.
- There’s one location missing on our map: that is the area within Park Maksimir, as the Ordinance states that off-leash walks are allowed within Park Maksimir “according to the decisions by Maksimir Public Institution”, and unfortunately, a lot of searching and phone-calls have been made, so that I can confirm the exact area where it is allowed, but to no avail. I have submitted a request to their official email, and as soon as I get the answer, I will amend this map with the area within Maksimir Park where off-leash dogs are allowed. EDIT (on March 18th): Although I have not yet received any official reply from Maksimir Public Institution, several people tried to convince me that the off-leash area in the Maksimir Park is the so-called "Velika livada", where I've now added the pin. I'm still trying to get official confirmation of that.
