What's the point of a 'dog exclusion zone'?

[FishChipsAndVinegarPlease]

Lots of cafés allow dogs now. No problem, I'll go elsewhere.

Lots of beaches allow dogs over the winter. Shame for me, but them's the rules.

But we are now in the summer season, and I was at a beach today in the UK, sitting in a marked 'dog exclusion zone'.

Someone with a dog off the lead, but fairly close to heel walked by, and the dog came up and urinated all over my bag. I'm heavily pregnant so couldn't leap up and grab the bag. Looking around, there were quite a lot of dogs on the beach.

I just wonder what the point is of the dog exclusion zone. It is totally ignored. I was pretty sad to have my bag urinated on, particularly as I'm pregnant and getting things cleaned up is harder than usual.

The owner didn't even say sorry, though she was standing barely five feet away.

I expect plenty of people will be along go tell me they prefer their dog to me and my future kid, but I just wanted to sit on the beach and relax today.

In any case there aren't enough benches for everyone on the prom, and I just wanted to sit on the beach.

Sometimes the bans are because of birds that nest in the sand - think oystercatchers etc. Just pointing out that there is sometimes an environmental reason why dogs shouldn't be there (ie just because the beach is empty doesn't mean the dog isn't doing any harm if there is a sign saying no dogs). I don't think Weymouth is that type of beach though!

In the middle of a beach where tourists go?
Why not ban people too, if that is the case?

Fecking fur baby 😡 hate that term

https://www.birdguides.com/news/dogs-banned-from-suffolk-beach-to-protect-ringed-plovers/

...and oystercatchers.

Who cares what happens to the birds though, as long as some entitled arsehole's out-of-control dog can do what it likes.

That is a nature reserve. Totally different to a beach that has fish and chip stalls, fair ground rides, and donkeys.

I had a dog piss on my hotel towel once. Went for an early swim before work, white hotel towel on the beach. Along comes a dog and pisses all over it. I threw a stone as it approached but missed. I had to take a white towel soaked in bright yellow stinking dog piss back to the hotel and leave it in the bath for the housekeeper. What must they have thought !!

We live near a popular tourist beach, sections of which are supposed to be dog free May-September. (The other half of the beach is dog friendly all year round.) There is a strong local campaign to allow dogs on the whole beach all year round. As a result people feel justified in ignoring the rules.

This means large dogs bounding along the beach not on leads, in an area populated with small children. Small children who could be terrified by over enthusiastic or even aggressive and uncontrolled large animals. Quite why people see this as acceptable is astonishing.

Why would you take a white hotel towel to the beach?

Of course! I said that was sometimes why dogs are banned, not the main reason

Not looking likely, which for me is good.

Can I take a guess - is this in Yorkshire by any chance?

Did you not even bother to rinse it in the bath?

Tell that to the more than 30,000 victims of dog attacks each year. And all the many who are victims but don’t bother reporting to the police.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2553157exo.amp

I live near several beaches. Some of them allow dogs all year round but some are supposed to be dog free May -November.
There are always dogs on the supposedly dog free beaches, the local Facebook groups are full of entitled pricks who blatantly boast that they take no notice of the rules. They don’t give a shit.
Whenever they are called out the old adage comes out that humans are vile scum and they’d rather interact with a canine any day than a person…

No, Dorset. An area with high levels of entitlement.

Can you imagine the furore if someone’s toddler ran up and pissed all over someone else’s bag? Especially in a place where kids are specifically prohibited? Dog owners are the worst.

This is about dogs on beaches though, not dog attacks.

A real deterrent would be to actually have the police at the beaches stopping people with dogs from going on the beaches that dogs aren't allowed on in the first place, but that will never happen. You can't even get them go investigate shop lifting, so a dog in a random beach will be even further down the list of things to investigate.

Difficulties in enforcing rules or laws shouldn’t mean they don’t exist. I am sorry you had such an unpleasant experience- the owner was an arsehole.

I was at a v posh (outdoor) artisan fair and my revolting dog cocked its leg at the handwoven, handcrafted, handloomed, heritage basket stand (starting price £200). That was a VERY expensive cock for me as I felt obliged to then buy said handwoven basket. Stall owner was delighted. The dog is dead now, but I still have the basket.

You were pretty sad to have your bag urinated on? I would be fucking furious! And I’d let the dogs owner know I was!

I can sympathise OP.
I help run a sports club that happens in a council owned park. The part we use is a fenced off area and has "no dogs" signs on all the gates and in a few other places on the fence. The rest of the park is open to dogs so it'svnot as if there's nowhere else for them to go. But every week, before the kids arrive I have to walk round picking up dog poo, some bagged and some not, but all just dumped in the middle of what is very obviously a sport specific facility. We got the gates padlocked for a while but people still climbed over and then someone cut them off. I've even had people walk through the gate with the massive "No Dogs" sign when I have been there putting our equipment out and clearing up the existing mess. I've given up challenging people though as I've had so much abuse.
I actually like dogs, but not clearing up their mess and I'm not at all keen on quite a lot of their humans.

Or teen. If he ran up, pissed on your bag, dug his nails into your chest, licked your face, yelled at your child then squatted down and curled one right out on the beach.

I can hope so nonetheless.