Plea to dog owners to lead the way on holiday walks

With Boxing Day and the festive holidays seeing more people taking to the countryside to walk off the overindulgences of Christmas, dog owners are being asked to “take a lead” if they take their pets along for the exercise – and to ensure they use it when near farm animals.

With many people on holiday for several weeks, NFU Scotland this week said that there was often an increase in the number of dogs being walked in or around farmland at this time of year.

NFU Scotland President Andrew Mccornick said that as part of the Control Your Dog campaign, the union was urging all dog owners to take care and adopt a responsible attitude while walking dogs on farmland, regardless of whether they could see livestock or not.

The plea came as part of the 12-month campaign being run by the union to not only reduce the number of attacks on livestock but also to cut the amount of dog poo left lying around farmland, as this could cause serious health issues for livestock if accidentally consumed.

Mccornick said that the campaign’s main messages called on dog owners to:

• Be informed – and know their responsibilities under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code;

•p•anahead–knowroutes and ensure poo bags and a lead were taken along;

• Control their pets - keep dogs on a lead around livestock. Know the steps to take if things don’t go to plan –such as cattle charging or a dog escaping;

• Don’t leave it hanging: “Picking up your dogs poo is not enough, take it with you and bin it, even if on the fringes of farmland. Don’t just ‘flick it’ into the bushes.”

He said that his organisation was asking dog owners to consider their farming and crofting neighbours by enjoying the countryside responsibly:

“Many people underestimate the damage dogs can do to livestock – whether that is attacking them when being off a lead or causing them to contract dangerous diseases through their poo. We need dog owners to take responsibility for controlling their dogs whilst out,” said Mccornick.