To think dogs should be banned from beaches?

[Bedroomdilemma]

At least during nesting season?
www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/14/study-adds-to-calls-to-ban-dogs-from-beaches-during-nesting-season-birds
Not that I’m anti-dog...I’m researching getting a dog. We go for a lot of walks at the moment (not much else to do😄) and I love looking at the dogs on our local beach but it’s also a nature reserve and I’m beginning to get a morally uncomfortable with it. It’s actually mostly a nature reserve for wintering birds so I’m not sure a ban just during nesting season is sufficient.

Why don't we have dog parks in this country
I think that if we did they would be dominated by the bad dog owners and the well behaved dogs and owners wouldn't be able to enjoy them 🙁

@Yohoheaveho the whole of the outdoors is everything's toilet. That's nature for you.

@SockDrawer a sheltie or a rough collie I think. Though the hair might be a nightmare with the sand 😃

@FudgeBrownie2019

Instead of banning dogs from areas why don't we regulate the sale of dogs, force everyone to hold a license and do that thing they do in Denmark where they DNA-database poops so that owners can be fined if their dog's shart is discovered un-scooped?

I own a dog. It's a good dog, well-trained, perfect recall, I always scoop his poop. He doesn't chase runners, he comes back as soon as I signal him to, halts when he's instructed and he's pretty much a textbook 'how you want your dog to behave' kind of dog. Why should I be banished from certain places because other people are lazy arseholes? Regulate it and stop the lazy arseholes being so lazy. Punish them, and the fines from the non-scoop-poops can finance the whole system.

I completely agree and I wish all dog owners were like you✅

@burritofan

Just ban dogs altogether imo. From parks; from the UK.

Yes. I completely agree.

I won't take my horse to ride on the beach, due to the risk of being attacked/pursued by out of control dogs. There's few things that scare me, but the thought of a dog clinging on with its teeth to my horse's legs scares the life out of me (I won't go in a local wood either). It's happened to so many friends of mine out with their horses. And I've also been bitten by a dog when out running!

@PatriciaPerch

I live in the country and we are expected to keep dogs on a lead during nesting seasons, alot of people don't though.

Maybe film or photograph them and send to the local authorities?

The amount of discarded kids nappies in beach’s seems to be a bigger problem

We live near the beach (South Coast) in a popular town .Beaches here shut to dogs all Summer (30th March to 30th October) 7 months of the year! So for the other 5 months we cant go either? I am meticolous about cleaning up after my dog .The Beach Cleaners come every morning/Evening ,yet still my Son when he was younger, managed to find some broken glass and cut his foot!

@GreenlandTheMovie

I won't take my horse to ride on the beach, due to the risk of being attacked/pursued by out of control dogs. There's few things that scare me, but the thought of a dog clinging on with its teeth to my horse's legs scares the life out of me (I won't go in a local wood either). It's happened to so many friends of mine out with their horses. And I've also been bitten by a dog when out running!

This is horrifying, were they able to prosecute the owners of the dogs?

I would be for making some beaches strictly no-dogs and some dog-friendly, all year round in each case. Then people with dogs and those who aren't bothered can visit the dog beaches and the others (of whom I am one - really don't want to have to worry about dogs and dog poo when I take my children to the beach) can use the no-dogs ones.

I'd be a lot harder on littering, too.

Yes, so a dog poo's 100s of yards away from you? with the best will in the world no one will be picking it up

Well, yes you do, if you are a responsible dog owner, is the short answer.

I've run back and forth dodging cars before when my dog did a poo in the middle of the road, to make sure it was picked up - it's just one of those things you have to do.

I think dogs should just be on leads at all times sadly. I've witnessed a stupid woman with many dogs all off their leads do absolutely nothing while two of them ran down the beach and attacked another dog. Then tried to scarper before the owners could get hold of her. She wasn't even that apologetic and didn't offer to pay the vet bills. These were big dogs too, what if they had targeted a child?

Stupid people like that ruin it for everyone unfortunately. If you can't trust them to do the right thing, force them. Least it's safer for everyone then.

Yohoheaveho the ones I saw on FB were prosecuted under the Dangerous Dogs Act, but my friends' incident wasn't because they couldn't trace the dog/owner. But to be honest, it happens so frequently (that dogs are off the lead and chase horses and other dogs round here) that I have safe, private routes to ride on that I stick to. I have noticed that when I travel to other parts of the country, dog owners are more likely to have their pets on leads and to be polite!

Even the risk of a loose dog chasing my horse and causing him to bolt is too high. The beach is just far too risky now due to loose dogs. It just takes one to bite through a tendon, and your horse would have to be ots.

I didnt even report the dog that bit me to the police, as I didnt want its death on my conscience. It was a rescue. Perhaps I should have done. I heard I later it had attacked a couple of peoples'dogs too. I ended up in hospital to get the wound cleaned and on strong antibiotics for 2 weeks!

I am not a dog owner but I do love to see them out and about on their walks IF their owners pick up after them and IF the owners follow the rules. I am increasingly frustrated by the many dog owners who do not have their dogs on a lead in our red squirrel reserve despite passing several signs making them aware of this.

No.

@GreenlandTheMovie
a dog attack is very traumatic and having to have the wound cleaned in hospital etc, further trauma, we should not have to face the risk of being attacked by predators in an urban environment

All the nature reserves I've ever visited have allowed dogs. Some specify dogs must be on a lead. Those near to where I live all say:

"Dogs are welcome, but so that they do not affect other people and our wildlife, please keep them under close control and clean up after your dog."

Some also say:

"Please keep your dogs on leads when sheep are grazing this nature reserve."

I think we need a national campaign to name and shame bad dog owners, everyone has a camera in their pocket it's pretty easy to shoot a bit of film and send it in
It would soon become clear who the bad ones are 🧐

Where I live dogs are banned from the nature reserve at all times (( seals, natterjack toads and rare birds )) but free to use the sandy beach at any time. I think that's fair tbh........and most people happily abide by the rule. Although the warden who isn't shy about dishing fines out probably has a lot to do with that.

There are signs up in my local nature reserve too, it runs through farmland with livestock in the fields, yet still people think that their dog (that big muscular attack dog but the children ride on its back and it loves the baby so that makes it alright 🙄) is special and it should be allowed off lead to enjoy itself as it pleases😖🙄

Of course dogs should be banned from beaches and dunes that are nesting areas, during the nesting season.

And in plenty of nature reserves, humans are banned from sections of beach or dune during the nesting season too.

Sadly the 'whataboutery' response of much of this thread demonstrates that many dog owners don't give a monkeys about other aspects of nature and aren't prepared to look at the specific impact of dogs on nesting birds. And don't seem to have read the link.