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?

We did this with our dogs (both of them)

There are 12 play parks around here and we used the one which no one went it. (Local kids has already trashed and council refused to fix again)

Dog didn’t wee or poo it (plus I always did a scout for used needles/drug bits) was a safe place to let them run while we worked on re call.

Unreasonable- and I am dog owner. There will still be faeces on the ground. If it’s a soft surface like bark or sand it’s impossible to clear it completely. Rabbit faeces are lower risk than dog faeces.
There are plenty of safe places to exercise dogs off lead - although it might involve a drive if you live in urban area. The answer is to train the dog properly.

No. It's absolutely NOT fine.

It's a children's play area and should be kept DOG AND DOG-SHIT FREE AT ALL TIMES.

Totally unreasonable in my view for the reason others have said - there is almost always still shit on the floor after the main bit is picked up. Also if a parent plans to take DC to park and sees them there they may well be put off especially if someone is afraid of dogs. I saw a woman in the local play park with a child the other day who had left her dog off lead outside the gate. I think this is unreasonable too because again it might put people off. Very selfish and I am a real dog lover.

she always puts the dog on the lead and takes her off if a child comes to play in the play area; Sorry..I don't get it ????

Dogs don’t just walk around shitting continuously. Mine does two a day. If he’s had his morning one I can be confident he isn’t going to be dropping droppings as he walks about during the rest of the day. This dog wouldn’t necessarily even be pooing in the playground

Where's OP, curious to know her opinion now she's had chance to read so many replies!

Dogs don’t just walk around shitting continuously.

our local park looks like they do...

Haint, that may be true of your dog. My dog shits at random times and despite a good diet often has the shits. Can you honestly say your dog has never ever done a shit when you didn't expect it and can you also say that his shit has never been at the runny end of the spectrum and therefore almost impossible to pick up? This is clearly unreasonable behaviour.

Totally unreasonable Even if she is picking up after her dog (which she should be in any case), there will still be residue which babies and toddlers could crawl through. And the dog may well wee up against playground equipment- I very much doubt she will be washing that off.

It is this sort of behaviour which reduces people's tolerance for dogs and their owners. (And I do like dogs BTW, but prefer them to be properly managed by their owners).

Dogs don’t just walk around shitting continuously.

Irrelevant in a dog-free area; they shouldn't be walking around at all.

Agree with softsheen

Oh yay, another place which is covered in dog shit/dog shit residue, because the dog just HAS to be off lead.

I'm so sick to death of cleaning dog shit off my kids. I love dogs but wouldn't have them as the smell of dog shit is the vilest thing on earth and makes me physically sick. The thought of all the 'residue' left behind in the garden, disgusting.

I can see where your friend is coming from. However the No Dogs rule is there for a reason - particularly because of inconsiderate people who don't clean up after their pets, or dogs that could be dangerous.
I have gone to our local play area before and not gone in because someone was in the enclosed play bit. I didn't want my son in there with a dog (plus he is scared) and was worried about any mess that may have been left. I also didn't want a confrontation with the owner.
In short, your friend may be nice and clean up too, but people approaching won't know that. Your friend is not above the rules.
And as other posters have said, its impossible to completely clean up all the mess if the dog does shit.

Thanks for all the comments.

Can see the general consensus is that she's being unreasonable.

My opinion? I don't really have one TBH. I don't really care. I don't have children and my dog is off-lead in the main park so it doesn't affect me either way.

I think it's fine as long as she sucks it up when someone has a go at her for doing it! Her risk to take and anyone's right to call her on it.

If a dog was in the play area with no lead wouldn't even approach. YFIBU.

My son picked up a bacteria from dog poo from a playground. Was sick for weeks. Unfort just cos she has picked up the poo doesn’t mean it’s all picked up. I think if the council has set up a play area for children it should only be used for this.

Life would run a whole lot smoother without fucking twats that think “the rules don’t apply to me”. It’s arrogant and selfish. So many issues could be solved by people just not thinking they are more important than everyone else.

And letting your dog use a child’s play area as a toilet (whether you pick it up or not) is fucking disgusting.

Maybe we should all just starting using the dog park as a human toilet. Some people are just rude, arrogant and as pp said selfish.

I had a dd who was frightened of dogs. You wouldn't have had the chance to put the lead on the dog when a child came in her case, as we'd have looked and left without going near.

My opinion? I don't really have one TBH. I don't really care.
What a disgusting attitude. I'm glad we all don't only care about issues that affect directly, community needs people with compassion and understanding, not taking the easy lazy, route.