All Dog owners should be aware of these upcoming changes in the law

rachiibell

poet123 wrote: »

I think that the rights of people to walk in public parks unhindered are more important than facilitating dogs running wild.

If a walk on a lead is not sufficient then take them into the countryside and let them off the lead there, making sure animals are not bothered by them.

If it was an area of countryside that you were actually allowed to walk your dog on (ie. not trespassing on someone's farm) surely that would be classed as a public space too!

trolleyrun

There are plenty of public footpaths around where I live. It looks weird when I see people walking there without a dog, as it's so rare. And that's not due to obnoxious dogs. There's also a local playing field in my village, where it's used for dog walks/running about during the week and football/games for kids at the weekend. It's an unwritten rule. The only ones who are in danger of getting dogs banned from there are the "professional" dog walkers who don't pick up the poo or let the dogs they're looking after run wild and harass other dogs. Everyone else seem to behave decently.

I'll be keeping a close eye on this legislation coming into effect, as I'm not sure I understand it correctly. Also, I have a nightmare neighbour who is harassing myself and a friend of mine by various different means. I suspect he'll be trying something with this update of the law.

shegirl

Person_one wrote: »

:rotfl:

I think its the rain and the mud, to be honest! It puts plenty of dog walkers off, the ones you only see when the sun comes out when the parks are packed to the rafters.

You can't seriously think that in an empty park or field or beach or woodland, with not a soul in sight and acres of lovely open space, my poor dogs should be restricted to staying on the end of a lead and shouldn't get to enjoy that space?

It's not always acres though is it?It's every playing field or green area.If it isn't covered in dog carp it's covered in dogs and even kids can't use them anymore!

ripplyuk

Clearly the irresponsible dog owners have ruined it for everyone else. Some people seem to think its fine for their dog to run up to other people because 'They're friendly'. It's not. But this law will likely only punish the responsible dog owners. It will be ignored by the others as I cannot see many people ending up with prison sentences for it considering how the system can't cope as it is.

Person_one

shegirl wrote: »

It's not always acres though is it?It's every playing field or green area.If it isn't covered in dog carp it's covered in dogs and even kids can't use them anymore!

Every? Covered? I don't think you're being entirely reasonable or realistic here. Kids use parks and playing fields all the time, its easily observable.

supersuzie50

Some people love dogs and cannot have a dog. I love it when dalmatians run up to me. Dogs are extremely sensitive and know when I need some attention after caring for my mother. I walk across the common - which is an open space but it was created by the Victorians for all local people to enjoy. I am a local person and I enjoy dogs. Surely I should be allowed some pleasure. The bullies on bikes who nearly knock me over and give me a heart attack because i am deaf and I do not hear them. Bullies on bikes are far worse than any dog. Dogs teach people compassion. Sadly it is certainly lacking in our society. I do not have a car or the time to drive to the countryside. Children should be taught to be respectful to all animals.

shegirl

Person_one wrote: »

Every? Covered? I don't think you're being entirely reasonable or realistic here. Kids use parks and playing fields all the time, its easily observable.

I guess that depends where you live and what you classify as a playing field and park then!

shegirl

supersuzie50 wrote: »

Some people love dogs and cannot have a dog. I love it when dalmatians run up to me. Dogs are extremely sensitive and know when I need some attention after caring for my mother. I walk across the common - which is an open space but it was created by the Victorians for all local people to enjoy. I am a local person and I enjoy dogs. Surely I should be allowed some pleasure. The bullies on bikes who nearly knock me over and give me a heart attack because i am deaf and I do not hear them. Bullies on bikes are far worse than any dog. Dogs teach people compassion. Sadly it is certainly lacking in our society. I do not have a car or the time to drive to the countryside. Children should be taught to be respectful to all animals.

If you want dogs running up to you go and work with dogs.

Most people don't want dogs running up and jumping at them.Owners need to be able to control their dogs.Call them back.

A dog walking over/looking up in passing is fine,sweet.A bounding mutt is not!

Which reminds me,stop expecting humans to move out of the way/towards the road so you don't have to control your dog on the pavement!Move it over

kathrynha

I have a fear of dogs and it really limits what we do as a family, because I can't use our local parks due to uncontrolled dogs running loose.

At the same time I accept that dogs need to be able to run around, burn off energy, socialise with each other, etc.

I also accept that is a minority of dog owners that are the issue.

I think all dogs should be on leads when walking along roads, and they should be short leads, not those ones that go really long. It is places away from roads that require more flexible rules.

I think an easy solution would be to have certain times in parks when dogs are allowed off leads.
Say till 9am off lead allowed, 9-13 on lead dogs allowed, 13-17 no dogs allowed, 17-19 on lead dogs and 19 onwards off lead allowed.
That way everyone gets a bit of what they want, it could be policed with cctv, which would be cheaper than fencing off sections of parks to be dog free areas.

lostinrates

Person_one wrote: »

Foreign people? Pretty sure lots of Brits have an irrational fear of dogs, and I'm not even sure how you can tell what nationality someone is without asking...

That aside, its a good question though. If someone is so terrified of dogs that one walking or running perfectly safely nearby scares them, how and why is that the dog owner's problem?

I find the attitude towards dogs better in some parts of Europe in fact. Being allowed to take your ( well behaved ) dog shopping with you or to lie down while you have a meal is better than the way so many in uk have a dog left at home alone for so long.


My dogs run off lead and socialise well. We are lucky we are able to do this on our own land as walking in public spaces is getting more and more unpleasant. Interestingly over the years this seems to correlate with more problems with dogs....poor socialisation and behavioural problems , obesity for example. The socialisation issues certainly seem to create a viscous circle where dogs not used to walking with people and other dogs behave poorly. One might also suggest the same might be said of people, the less and less used they get to dogs behaving normally the less used they are to normal dog behaviours and are not taught how to react and behave, so urbanised and removed from this relationship we have had for millennia. I don't think everyone should be forced to 'love ' dogs, but I do think that people who have fear would be better knowing how to behave.

Interestingly there was a short feature on phobias on the breakfast news yesterday. The 'expert' pointed out that avoidance was not the way forward.