Dog Ban in Public Parks

KarynK

KarynK

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Just heard that in Newark the council is banning Dogs from ALL it's public parks, I suspect that this will be taken up elsewhere if we are not careful!!!!
 
I read that too. It seems like its the usual case of the irresponsible dog owners spoiling it for the rest.:( Years ago a friend of my mums (the author Joyce Stranger) was convinced that there was a huge anti dog movement brewing, she said loads of restrictions would be placed on dog owners, dogs would be banned from parks and certain breeds would be banned altogether. I am ashamed to say we put it down to an overactive authors brain. How right she was though.
 
From what I saw on the news, it's due to people repeatedly not picking up their dogs mess rather than as a result of dog behaviour.

Dog bins were provided in these parks - how hard is it? Jesus :mad:

As MM said, it's the minority spoiling it for the majority.
 
Having been to three different parks yesterday I can totally see why this ban is being introduced.

I the UK should follow the American model and have dog-only areas.
If I had a child I would be very concerned about the amount of dog mess and free-running dogs.

It is with a heavy heart that I say this but where I live, it is the minority who DO pick up after their dogs and who DO keep their dogs under control :(
 
mollichop said:
From what I saw on the news, it's due to people repeatedly not picking up their dogs mess rather than as a result of dog behaviour.

Dog bins were provided in these parks - how hard is it? Jesus :mad:
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Not so easy apparantly and you can bet probably almost every one of the not picked up piles came from a dog off lead. There really should have been a leash law like many places in the USA enforced in the UK before now. But of course freedom and rights and all that c"$! so now all of us have to pay the price for the irresponsible % of dog owners. It's much harder to ignore the dog pooping when it is attached to you by 3ft of lead.
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When I am out in public parks, I CRINGE to see people leaving their dogs mess behind. But I also cringe when I see so few dog bins.

The nicest area near me has a bin every 200 metres and is kept meticulously clean, I cannot help but wonder if its the availability of these bins that help -or are we just lucky in this area people aren't too good to scoop?

I don't even like kids, but I still pick up mess, sometimes even not my own dogs if i notice it!
 
True Cefyl (I'm not really following you around HHO agreeing with everything you say :p) but I have certainly spent up to 15 minutes searching for a piece of poop on the training field (I know he did it, I saw him do it, now where the bloody hell is it?!) and I could see why other people would not be bothered to do so......
 
Kitsune said:
When I am out in public parks, I CRINGE to see people leaving their dogs mess behind. But I also cringe when I see so few dog bins.

The nicest area near me has a bin every 200 metres and is kept meticulously clean, I cannot help but wonder if its the availability of these bins that help -or are we just lucky in this area people aren't too good to scoop?

I don't even like kids, but I still pick up mess, sometimes even not my own dogs if i notice it!
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But like other litter, there is nothing preventing people taking it home, I walked for 20 minutes with two total sods leaping around me :mad: with a plastic bag looped around my wrist until I found a bin, if there were bins every ten paces some people still would not avail of them.

And over here, they are a target for teenage arsonists, sadly!!!
 
Agree with Kitsune. I walk my dogs in a large country park and all the poo bins are situated near the car park at the entrance, so unless your dogs poo the moment you step out of your car, you are left with lugging a Tesco carrier bag around 200 acres filled with turd. I always pick up and even when my bitches crouch and do a tinkle I feel guilty walking away as I'm sure some other walkers think they've pooped - including our local friendly dog warden on one occasion!:confused:

Having said that, I avoid any children only areas like the plague. Young children playing and skinnies hareing around like loons do not mix.:eek:
 
Kitsune said:
The nicest area near me has a bin every 200 metres and is kept meticulously clean, I cannot help but wonder if its the availability of these bins that help -or are we just lucky in this area people aren't too good to scoop?
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Nah, there's a public park near my house with poo bins at the entrance and exit plus a bin in the town square, another at the end of the lane leading to the park and another on the green at the top of my street. We are still wading through dog sh*t. :rolleyes: It's a properly pretentious, snobby area populated by little old rich ladies walking their overfed dachshunds so it goes to show that anybody can be a lazy swine. :p

It's doubly unpleasant when you often walk your dog on a long line trailing on the floor... *shudders* And I feel incredibly guilty when I'm in a poo-ridden area and we pass hikers, I feel like I need to wave poo-bags in their face and go "it's not me, promise!"

I'd travel a long way to go to a securely fenced dog park a couple of times a week, is introducing those the answer maybe?

The thing that annoys me most is the people who bag it up and then hang the bag from a tree branch or fence post - WHY?! I'd rather you left it on the floor to rot or get washed away than hang up a plastic bag that will be there for years to come! :mad:
 
I agree Cave - but I think only once you have made something really easy, can you really start coming down hard on people who don't comply. I know its not ideal but some people round here pick it up - then end up chucking it in a bush as they've needed their hands - for something, I guess :p

And as for FINDING IT?! Surely to god it'd be sat there like the Bismark?!!!! You want to try finding a JRT poo!! lol
 
blackcob said:
It's doubly unpleasant when you often walk your dog on a long line trailing on the floor... *shudders*
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Ack ack gack I can confirm this, there is an open area near me, and I swear I have never seen anyone else poop-scoop, despite the fact that there are bins:mad: It is revolting:mad:

And what is going on with the leaving bags behind although I must admit I was once a culprit - I was carrying a bag of poop, carrying it, carrying it, then suddenly realised I wasn't any more - must have dropped it, although goodness knows where since I had been walking for the best part of 2 hours at that point:o

An the other hand, I did an entire day walk with a bag of poop stuffed into a pocket of my rucksack once as well:):o
 
blazingsaddles said:
I always pick up and even when my bitches crouch and do a tinkle I feel guilty walking away as I'm sure some other walkers think they've pooped - including our local friendly dog warden on one occasion!:confused:
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Lol - Must admit to being on 'poo patrol' on occasion and scowling at owners, then realising it's a bitch weeing (my smilies have stopped working!)
 
Everyone come to live with me!

We have a 44 acre fenced in dog park with river access and agility equiptment and a dog wash about 20 minutes from me and closer by we have smaller 1 acre fenced in parks with plenty of bins.

I hardly ever see any poop not picked up here and have seen one or 2 people getting the $2000 fine.

They even provide bags and gloves at the poop bins for you.

Thankfully Abe's poop is one small one a day and its solid!
 
I have to admit I wouldn't use a dog park unless people around here taught their dogs how to interact properly. I'd fed up of unruly dogs jumping on my under control and on the lead dog!

I'm a poop picker-upper too....I'm regularly found picking up other peoples, searching for his lordships under a bush and tutting at the morons who don't pick up. The park where we mostly walk has football fields etc and even then people don't pick up!! I can understand flicking it into the undergrowth on country parks (got caught out running out of bags once) but not picking up on a playing field is not on.

I'm paranoid about running out of bags while I'm out so every day to day bag I own has a pack of poo bags in...it causes great amusement for my friends.
 
I agree about dogs that are not under-control.

Luckily people here know that animal control regularly patrol the parks and that the parks will go if many complaints are had!

Seeing as dogs are not allowed off leash ANYWHERE other than the dog parks most people appreciate the use of them
 
So, are your dog parks specifically for off-lead exercise or do you get the single ejit who insists on doing retrieval work with their dog whilst surrounded by 30 loose dogs and then complain?;)
 
I totally agree that there is no excuse not to poo pick, that all dogs should be under control in public places etc etc but I still find Newarks stance very disturbing.

Aren't dog owners members of the public too? Don't they pay rates/council tax? Why should there be a blanket ban on every dog owner because some dog owners won't clean up?

Look at it this way, we all know that there are some car drivers that shouldn't be on the road - dangerous, incompetant and careless - but what do you think would happen if an "authority" decided that rather than catch and prosecute the bad drivers that it would be easier and no doubt, very effective if you just banned ALL drivers. There would be uproar and rightly so IMHO.
 
KarynK said:
Just heard that in Newark the council is banning Dogs from ALL it's public parks, I suspect that this will be taken up elsewhere if we are not careful!!!!
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What happened with innocent until proven guilty? How can being a dog owner, deny me the right to be considered innocent until there is proof of that I'm guilty of something, like not controlling my bitches or not picking up after my bitches?

Why are any humans allowed to walk loose? Some humans leave havoc, broken glass, empty packages, plastic bags, used chewing gums, cigarettes, portioned snus and all other sorts of pollutions after themselves in parks and all other parts of the environment, so if anybody should be collectively banned from parks and public life, based on the amount of rubbish they leave behind, I don't think it should be dogs.

And in my neighbourhood some humans are so stupid, that they leave broken glass in the area just below and around the poo bins! I'm quite capable of carrying poop bags to the next poop bin, but it makes me feel SO stupid, picking up something that is reasonably quickly and naturally biodegradable, when other people leaves broken glass behind them :mad: , that my dogs could cut their paws on, if I'm not careful enough.
Not to mention the two places near an illuminated jogging trail in the wood, where both local childcare centres and teenagers likes to go occasionally to grill some hot dogs. The childcare centres sometimes leaves litter behind and the teenagers somehow manages to bring liquor, that they can't have bought legally and guess what happens with the bottles... :mad:

By the way, if it doesn't already exist, I think there should be an animal rights law, that demands that councils, in cases like these, must provide dog owners with fenced in dog parks.
 
blazingsaddles said:
So, are your dog parks specifically for off-lead exercise or do you get the single ejit who insists on doing retrieval work with their dog whilst surrounded by 30 loose dogs and then complain?;)
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Yes they are for off lead exercise but obviously with it being 44 acres with lots of trails you don't have to take the dog off the leash.

At the big dog park there are areas's which are smaller where people can go to do training work but mostly people who retrieve have their own places they go to practice.
 
Aww, it would be a really sad thing if dogs were banned from parks :( I don't have a dog but dogs and parks just go together. The irresponsible few that don't pick up their dogs poo, should have their noses rubbed in it (the owners) that would sort it :D
 
Some people are just dirty barstewards :( I was at a dog show on sunday, twice the show sec called to remind people to pick up their dog mess, but there was still piles of it everywhere.

These idiots ruin it for us that do pick up after our dogs:(
 
Luckily my RR never poos on walks... she will wait untill she is back in the garden! I know I still end up picking it up.. but at least i dont have to carry around her mountain of poop!

When me little border had colitus he would strain and look like he was pooping and nothing would come out... the first time he did it I spent 20 mins searching through long grass armed with a bag untill i realised there was nothing!

The doggy friendly places I go to have bins at the car park... but nowhere else. The irritating thing is the dog poo seems to be worse around the car park... Why couldnt these people simply move the poop to the bins about 20metres away to save my stupid terrier walking through it!
 
CaveCanem said:
Having been to three different parks yesterday I can totally see why this ban is being introduced.

I the UK should follow the American model and have dog-only areas.
If I had a child I would be very concerned about the amount of dog mess and free-running dogs.

It is with a heavy heart that I say this but where I live, it is the minority who DO pick up after their dogs and who DO keep their dogs under control :(
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I used to think the dog policy in Central Park was heavy-handed, but it actually works well, and ensures everyone gets a chance to use the park to the fullest.

Dogs are allowed off-leash in the entire park before 9am and after 8pm. At any other point, they have to be on leash. As an alternative during the leash hours, there are over 40 fenced dog parks throughout Manhattan. The off-leash hours in Central Park are billed as an opportunity for dogs to socialise, and as a result, we've never encountered dog-aggressive dogs.

Picking up poop is mandatory, and if anyone has been to New York, you'll know that Central Park is spotless.
 
Obviously dog parks in the city are much smaller than those in the suburbs, but they each have boards run by volunteers to help maintain the upkeep of the park. This is our favourite run in the city:

http://www.firstrunfriends.org/index.shtml

Yes, you get the occasional crackpot, but mostly people are pleasant at the dog run. In order for it to work, though, people need to be honest with themselves about how their dog would fare with 20-30 unfamiliar dogs in, say, a two-acre space (ten times that, usually, in the 'burbs).
 
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