New rule has dog owners barking mad
A change of rules at Onehunga Bay provoked an outpouring of comments on the Kapi-Mana News Neighbourly page.
Dogs must now be leashed in the car park and picnic area of the beach in Whitireia Park, but can still run free across the rest of the area - as long as they are under their owner’s control.
Most people were unhappy their dogs freedom would be curtailed and were worried it was a sign of further changes to come.
MARY QUIN FROM TITAHI BAY
‘‘One of the reasons I chose to buy a home in Titahi Bay, not Wellington, three years ago was the access to off-leash areas.
‘‘I’m concerned this is a step towards restricting other areas of Whitireia Park as well. We responsible dog owners need to start being more proactive to protect the few off-leash areas left in the Wellington region. On-leash walks simply aren’t adequate exercise for most dog breeds.’’
DARRYLL COXALL FROM TITAHI BAY
Dogs with reliable owners should be able to be under control without a leash.
You will find most dogs won’t annoy the majority of people unless encouraged.
‘‘Also non-dog owners should be encouraged to teach their children not to throw objects at dogs and laugh, these people would be the first to whinge if one of their children was bitten by a confused dog.’’
GLENN MISCALL FROM JUDGEFORD - PAUATAHANUI
‘‘As a responsible dog owner I feel we are getting absolutely ripped off with the registration fees.
‘‘More areas are getting taken away from us, with nothing to replace them with.
‘‘We live rurally so don’t really need exercise areas, but our lab used to love coming with us in the summer months to the beach next to Paremata bridge for fish and chips and a swim, but two or three years ago it became a no-dog beach.’’
Kirsty Chandler from Titahi Bay
There’s nowhere in Porirua you can take your dog for a swim and free play off lead.
All because some one else wrecked it for the rest of us, most probably with an unregistered dog too.
Which comes back to the point of registered owners spending a fortune every year on fees that, feels to me, like we are funding the council/pound to attend to, dispose of and house unregistered dogs.
I would like to see a dog park or something similar to that in Grenada North where we can run dogs off leads and have accessible bins for poo disposal if they are going to label other places as ‘‘on a leash’’ areas.
GLENN BROWN FROM ASCOT PARK
Dogs should be allowed in picnic areas if registered and are good family dogs.
And dogs are like us, they like to swim too so they should have that freedom to go on the beach if the owner is within voice control and sight distance.
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