BARKING MAD FOR EXERCISE
There are 55,000 dogs on the Coast and far too many struggle for places to get some off-leash quality time
THE Glitter Strip’s pets are in the dog house. Locked up all day, they are causing a stink in luxury highrise apartments. But what’s happening down below on the beaches?
Your columnist this week wrote a report about a Surfers Paradise body corporate struggling to police pets after painters refused to complete repair work for health reasons.
What could not be published to support the article were the photographs of the apartments taken by tradies. They would have stopped you eating your breakfast.
On a balcony several floors up, the white tiles were grey with grime and beside a dog bowl was a pile of dog faeces. The tenants were busy working back-to-back shifts.
The view, if you could enjoy it, looked magnificent with a wide blue stretch of the Nerang River below and north to the beaches.
Further south on the white sand early every morning is passionate dog owner Phillip Deed, with his labrador Ace. He and other dog owners are talking about animal management laws.
“We need more areas to exercise dogs and the parks are often not lit well enough and not big enough to exercise your dog properly,” Mr Deed says.
“Many dogs need a good 30-minute brisk walk – not going around and around in circles. Many parks have adjoining houses so this can be a disturbance to residents. And there are often not enough parking spaces.”
In winter where first light is not until after 6am, the many 5am regular dog walkers give up on the parks and their pets are miserable.
The solution being put forward by Mr Deed, which has gained support among pet owners he talks to every day, would result in the council opening up more off-leash sections on beaches.
The Coast has only three off-leash dog exercise areas covering 3km of beach – at The Spit, Tallebudgera Beach and Palm Beach. Even on a leash, you cannot take your pet within 200m of a flagged area.
“I think it is fair enough that more beaches should be open for dogs especially early in the morning from five to seven and later in the afternoon, perhaps from four to six,” Mr Deed says.
The Coast has at least 55,000 registered dogs with owners paying a $118 annual fee. Another 6500 pets are thought to be unregistered.
Mr Deed suggests the council use some of the payments from dog owners to provide more benefits rather than focusing on the policing of offleash animals.
“There needs to be more locations where free dropping bags are supplied. Currently between north Burleigh and Burleigh there are a few locations but between Miami and Broadbeach there is nothing,” he says.
“Council could suggest that owners be responsible with ownership by exercising their dogs appropriately.”