I'm not a dog owner... so can anyone who is tell me...

[clary]

... what they think of the following scenario:

I volunteer for an athletic club and we had an open meeting at the weekend. Athletes aged from about 10yo up to adult were competing in a series of track races as well as throws in javelin, discus, hammer.

Dogs are banned from the whole site - but I understand the notice telling you this is not very big or clear.

A parent (I presume) had a dog on the site (the track has a large grassy area around it, as is common). I saw them a couple of times - the second time I went up and told them the dog was not allowed.

As far as I could see, the dog (a biggish spanielish sort of dog if that's important) was at no time on a lead. Certainly when I approached, it was running around freely. The owner seemed surprised that a dog was not allowed.

My question is this - given that there are open gateways all around the track (to allow athletes access to different points and also to allow first aid vehicles to drive on to the edge of the track) was it in any way OK for the dog to be running about off the lead?

Am I missing something here? I must say when the man was all "I never knew dogs were banned" (hmm seems obvious to me but hey) I was thinking "yes well WHY would you think, even if dogs were allowed, it would be Ok for your dog to run about uncontrolled?" I didn't say that but what do dog owners think? Would you do this?

Thanks.

I wouldn’t take my dog to an event like that (and definitely not off lead).

There is potential for confusion if it’s just a field though. Is the site accessible when not in use for athletics? Is it clearly private property as opposed to a public park?

Either way, it’s fine to tell them that they need to leave with the dog.

Depends on the dog. Dogs are different. Some dogs hare around. Some potter locally to their owner. Some flake out and never move.
But does it matter? Surely what's important was his response when you told him to leave?

I think he should have had the sense not to have his dog off lead in the environment you describe, and he shouldn't have been surprised that dogs weren't allowed.

No it's not a park in any way. It's closed (gates are locked) when not open for athletics training or comps.

He left I think (didn't stay to see) but what baffled me was that, even if he thought dogs were allowed, he felt it was OK for the dog to be trotting about off the lead. I was just wondering if people thought that was fair enough. I was terrified that it was going to run on to the track tbh.

“No it's not a park in any way. It's closed (gates are locked) when not open for athletics training or comps.”

In that case, no, he definitely should not have brought his dog, it definitely should not have been off lead, and you are absolutely right to kick both the owner and the dog off the premises.

Thanks for the replies. I am not keen on dogs at all for various reasons, so it was hard for me to judge this. Personally I wouldn’t think it was OK to take a dog to a place where children run about and where families put mini tents up to watch the event, but then dogs are allowed at kids’ football, for example, which is similar.

But even if he didn’t think that, I did find it almost unbelievable that he would think it was OK to have the dog off the lead in that situation – literally nothing would have stopped it haring on to the track as the 200m was about to start. Or running on to the field in the middle of the jav competition. Either of those situations would have meant injured athletes or injured dog. Glad to find I am not the only person who thinks that. Looks like he was a particularly irresponsible dog owner rather than having the majority view.