Dog off-lead in deserted play area- is this woman U?

[TridentTested]

A friend of mine has a rescue dog with terrible recall.

Our local park has a fenced-off children's play area.

On weekend mornings when the play area is empty, my friend lets her dog off-lead in the play area.

She says she's not U because there's no-one there; she always puts the dog on the lead and takes her off if a child comes to play in the play area; she picks up poo; and doesn't let her dog climb on the equipment. She says having a dog running around in there is no worse than the rats, foxes, mice, cats etc. that roam the park at night.

So, do you think she's being U?

It's fine I think, the no dogs sign is just to reduce the public liability insurance costs.

Bird shit is one of the most toxic things and people have no issue with that.

Her assessment that the dog isn't vicious is irrelevant as few owners can accurately assess the likelihood of a dog becoming vicious in a future scenario, look at how shocked people are whose dogs turn. There was a thread here recently when someone's previously placid dog went mental and bit someone in the family. It can be caused by neurological and pain issues not just temperament.

I'm finding it hard to believe this is a real question tbh, is this actually your friend or you?

It says no dogs which means no dogs. I guess she thinks the rules don't apply to her.

Cross post!

Okay, so my answer is: what do you think? we know lots about what your friend thinks but I haven't noticed you give your opinion on whether it's acceptable or not yet?

Today 12:09 Blackteadrinker77

It's fine I think, the no dogs sign is just to reduce the public liability insurance costs.

Exactly, because dogs in a kids playground are an increased liability. Why do you think that is?

It wouldn't bother me too much if it was a hard surface play area and one aimed at older children but it is completely unreasonable if it is grass and/ or aimed at little ones.

No, it's not ok for her to do this
No dogs means no dogs
Even when there are no children in there

I don't have an issue with her or her behaviour I don't think.

I do think she should be training her dog rather than accepting poor recall though.

It wouldn’t bother me , mainly because we have lots of small fenced off play areas near us and often you get parents in there with their children and they have their own dog running around . Provided you pick up after the dog and are not bothering anybody I can’t see the issue .

its irrelevant if she thinks she is reasonable or not as all it takes is one annoyed playground user to make a complaint and the council or whom ever runs the playground could fine her or trespass her etc

Lemon I'm completely unsure/undecided TBH, which is why I asked on here. OTOH, I can see her perspective but OTOH I can also see the opposite perspective.

Sorry, that's a crappy answer.

Personally I think it is cheeky. No dogs means no dogs. Not just when it suits your friend.

How does she stop the dog urinating on the play equipment if it is off the lead?

I used to take my dog to a similar area to train, a playing field next to a playground. I thought the sign was on the playground not the field. I was very embarrassed when I was told off- I'm a law abiding soul.

There is a shortage of safe places to train dogs!

Rationally, I'm with her though you should make sure your dog is empty first!

In case a dog bites of child of course, but the OPs friend isn't there when anyone else is.

If she gets reported she could face a hefty fine.

When did this law change?

Since when can you be fined for being in a park with your dog who is not out of control and no one else is there?

Even though the playground is deserted, I think she is being unreasonable as the rules are there for a reason.

Dogs are banned to keep the playground safe for children. If the playground is anything like ours, the gates are self closing to stop children escaping through a gate that has been left open and bins are outside the boundary. Therefore a Fox is unlikely to enter as bins are not in there for them to scavenge
From, and they would have to squeeze through railings or jump the fence. Ours doesn't have that wide of a railing.

Rodents are irrelevant as they are hardly going to be spending significant amounts of time in there playing on the swings and the slide.

Her dog will be running round all over, and she can't guarantee it won't wee or poo loose motions. Cleaning up the solid ones doesn't mean she has completely washed it away so traces will remain.

If she is allowed to get away with it, someone else will come along and say 'well my dog is fine with children' and then it's just a snowball effect.

There is a man who teaches recall to dogs in our local park. They are allowed, but on lead. His has a ridiculously long lead. I'm not talking one of the retractable ones, just masses and masses of length that he grabs and pulls in when needed. For me, it's not ideal as it's no better than a dog off lead in most instances. But the man is pretty responsible so I don't complain. She needs an ultra long lead and teach recall with that.

The dog being in there may be stopping children using the play area
My nursery is next to a play area and if there is a dog in it I'm not going to take the children in
So that's their fun spoiled because of someone's selfish actions
Also, we have to do a full on check before we let the children play and have to remove any dog mess

It's just the poo, really. I'd be OK with it if she made sure the dog pooed outside the park. Picking it up isn't good enough, it's never entirely clean.

I do that in the local tennis court, when it's raining, but I ALWAYS take the dog for a good walk first, so it has had at least one poo. Depending on the dog, I usually know which dog goes more than once so it gets a longer walk.

I think your friend is being unreasonable not walking her dog first so it doesn't poo in the playground. She will also have a better chance of teaching it recall if she lets it expel some energy on a good walk first.

I really wish there were more of lead dog parks. We pay dog licence here, but unfortunately it's all put into one big pot, so can be spent on anything. I wish the council would increase the licence fee and use it ALL for dog parks, and any other dog related issues.

She is BU, it's grim. Wether the dog is a rescue or not doesn't matter, it is her responsibility to train and have adequate "facilities" for the dog, which doesn't include a children playground.

Not unreasonable at all - it's just poo! I mean seriously, there will be all sorts of other stuff that touches that floor before kids go play on it.

Your friend is absolutely BU. The play area is clearly marked "No dogs". It isn't up to us to decide when we will pay attention to those rules. The rules are there for everyone to follow, all of the time.

I would never let my dog run around in an enclosed play area clearly marked "no dogs", irrespective of whether there are children in there or not. It is rare, IMO, to be able to completely scoop all the poop. For this reason, we trained our dog to use a specific hard surface area of the garden for toiletting so that we could clean the area down with Jeyes. I would not want my own DCs playing in an area where dogs poo/wee.