Anyone live in Bedford? This is quite crap.

[GobblersKnob]

Dog fines and bans.

Banned from the whole of Rushmere Country Park , worried that this is to become a trend .

A complete ban seems a bit extreme Why can't they be walked on a lead?

Is it because they scare the fairies?

It's because of livestock
Says the lady who lives by a dairy who has been chased too many times by mad cows to contemplate :o

Mr O'Mara has hit the nail on the head - typical response in the UK, to create even more difficult to enforce bylaws where the existing ones are adequate but not enforced.

This is already happening all over the country, by the way.

I don't object to dogs being kept out of certain areas, as long as they then create, dog/bark-parks where dogs are allowed off-lead at all times, so people who don't like dogs, have no reason to be there and as long as the dog-free parks are in the minority.

I have no objection to on-lead only areas either, as long as off-lead areas are also provided. In fact a lot of owners would prefer to be able to choose to walk in lead-only areas to avoid the type of people that let their dogs run up to every dog they see, regardless of whether or not they're on the lead.

Unfortunately, as is always the way, the councils are trying to legislate against stupidity (as in irresponsible dog owners) but it will be the responsible owners that lose out, while the irresponsible ones will just keep doing what they've always done.

Here is the link to the public consultation document which actually explains what the Council are trying to do. here

They have explained that in some countryside areas, they are (reasonably in my view) expecting dogs on leads in high usage areas such as car parks, some grazing areas (because of the danger to livestock) and around children's areas. There's a lot more detail in the consultation paper, and I don't think any dog owner would object to keeping dogs out of children's play areas, for example, or making the whole borough an area where dog fouling is illegal.

And I completely agree that this has been driven by irresponsible dog owners. Only this morning, we were walking at a beautiful NT property near us which allows dogs in the park. Man with two off lead spaniels was completely engrossed in his phone call and ignoring the fact that his dogs were really hassling a runner who was interval training between two trees. I am beginning to wonder how much longer the Trust will allow dogs in the park, given the problems caused by a minority of wankbadgers.

And for Dog Fouling, the Clean Neighbourhoods Act is very much easier and more straightforward to enforce than the preceding legislation, and allows the straightforward issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices, not necessarily by Dog Wardens. So for instance, Park Staff, litter enforcement, PCSO etc can be authorised to issue them so you stand a much better chance of actually catching and fining people who don't pick up.

I know I am sick of other dog owners myself, so God knows how non dog owning people feel

As usual I agree with scuttle . That said I got told off yesterday by an elderly man for putting a bag of dog poo in a general bin - you can't win with some people.

On one of the Leighton Buzzard pages on my facebook it says someone called the Rangers at Rushmere today and they were very surprised by it. Dog walkers bring in a large proportion of their income and they would not like to put them off coming, which would be the result of a total of lead ban. Apparently they're thinking about compulsory leads in the play areas and near the cafe, which seems more reasonable.