The last few months have been “ruff" for dogs and dog owners.

With dog runs and parks closed since April, leash free activities have been virtually off-limits citywide.

What You Need To Know:

• The city's playgrounds re-opened on Monday.
• Dog owners say that because most of them live in apartments that the dog runs and parks are vital.
• Councilman Keith Powers wrote to City Hall asking when dog parks and runs would reopen but has not heard back.

A Brooklyn dog owner helped launch a petition hoping to garner support for reopening dog parks and runs.

Dog owners who spoke with NY1 on Tuesday said that they’ve made due with walks during that time but that it just isn’t the same.

“We all live in apartments in NYC. We don’t have a huge back yard, we don't have our own pools,” said dog owner Alicia Cruz.

So, when the city announced playgrounds would re-open this week, dog owners who frequent the Peter Detmold Dog Run in Midtown were thrilled.

They assumed if kids could return to play, that so could pets but that wasn’t the case.

"I'm confused, what does the Mayor think goes on in the dog park that would warrant it not opening but you open the children's park?" questioned dog owner Erika Germano.

The decision to open parks for city children and not those for pets is where owners really have a bone to pick with the mayor.

"People are being good on the sidewalks and I don’t think the dog park would be any different," said Joan, another dog owner.

Amy Willard usually takes her dog, Binkley, to Maria Hernandez Dog Run in Brooklyn.

She too has been waiting anxiously for city run dog parks and runs to re-open.

She helped start a petition on Change.org with other dog owners in the hopes of getting the issue on the city’s radar.

Since the petition launched, it's garnered more than 1,000 signatures.

"They just opened playgrounds and i saw a tweet earlier that said they were turning on sprinklers for kids so I don’t really understand why dog runs are a threat here," said Willard.

Councilmember Keith Powers also penned a letter to City Hall on behalf of his constituents.

His spokesperson told NY1 that in the nearly two  weeks since, that they haven’t received a letter in response.

The mayor said this about the issue during a press conference on Monday.

"We have a whole host of other things that we're evaluating right now. We're evaluating them all together. Basketball courts, soccer fields, tennis courts, handball courts, dog runs, you name it, we're looking at all of them," the mayor said.

Owners said they don’t expect the mayor to roll over and abandon any health concerns he may have.

They said if that’s the issue that they’d find a way to address it but that continuing to keep them closed, without a reason, is a doggone shame.